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THE 



SPEECHES 



OF 



HENRY CLAY. 



EDITED BY 

CALVIN COLTON, LL.D., . 

PROFESSOR OP PUBLIC ECONOMY, TRINITY COLLEGE, 



IN TWO VOLUMES. 
VOL. I. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & CO., 

51 and 5 3 JOHN S TREET. 

1857. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

A. S. BARNES & CO., 

In the Clerk's Offico of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

THOMAS B. SMITH, 
S2 & 84 Beekman Street, N. Y. 



PRINTED BY 

GEORGE W. WOOD. 
51 John St. 



PREFACE TO VOLUME V- 



This volume is the fifth of the series comprising the Life, 
Correspondence, and Speeches of Henry Clay, the first three 
being devoted to the Life, the fourth to the Correspondence, 
and the fifth and sixth to the Speeches. The author of the first 
three volumes, containing the Life of Mr. Clay, becomes an 
editor in the last three, which contain the Correspondence and 
Speeches. The fourth volume, which contains the Private Cor- 
respondence of Mr. Clay, has been more than a year before the 
public. The third volume, under the title of the Last Seven 
Years of the Life of Henry Clay, was published subsequently 
to that containing the Correspondence ; but, as will be seen, the 
Correspondence naturally takes the place of the fourth volume 
of the series. 

The author of the Life, who is the editor of the Correspond- 
ence and Speeches, thinks it proper, in this edition of the 
Speeches, to say, that his objects have been, first, to give Mr. 
Clay's speeches down to the end of his life. They had never 
before been collected later than 1844. Those delivered by him 
in the Thirty-first Congress in 1849, 1850, and 1851, compre- 
hending about one fourth of all that have been preserved, are 
among the most interesting and most important of his life — 
more especially those which were delivered on the Compromises 
of 1850. 

The next object of the editor has been, to give a historical 
introduction to each of the speeches, showing the position which 
each of them occupied in the history of the country. These 
introductions are rarely analytical ; but they generally relate to 



IV PREFACE. / 

matters outside of the speeches, though connected with -them in 
their historical relations ; and they furnish opportunities; as will 
be seen, to say things which could not with propriety be' said in 
the Life of Mr. Clay. 

The author of the Life and editor of the Correspondence and 
Speeches of Mr. Clay, has endeavored to bring together, in these 
six volumes, the entire history of his subject ; and he is not 
aware that any thing of importance has been omitted. The 
work is intended to represent the place which Mr. Clay, occupied 
in the social and political history of the country. 

C. Colton. 

New York, January 15, 1857. 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME V. 



PASS 

ON DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES T 

ON THE LINE OF THE PEEDIDO, 12 

ON RENEWING THE CHARTER OF THE FIRST BANK OF THE UNITED 

STATES, 23 

ON THE INCREASE OF THE ARMY, 8-1 

ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY, .* 42 

ON THE NEW ARMY BILL 53 

ON MR. CLAY'S RETURN FROM GHENT, 71 

ON THE BANK QUESTION, 74 

ON THE DIRECT TAX AND STATE OF THE NATION AFTER THE WAR OF 

1812 81 

ON THE BILL FOE ENFORCING NEUTRALITY, 100 

ON COMMERCIAL RESTRICTIONS WITH THE BRITISH WEST INDIES, . . .103 

ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT, 108 

ON THE WAR BETWEEN SPAIN AND HER COLONIES, Ill 

ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT 115 

♦ ON EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES, 186 

• ON EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 163 

ON THE SEMINOLE WAR, 179 

ON THE SPANISH TREATY, 205 

ON PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY, 218 

• ON SENDING A MINISTER TO SOUTH AMERICA, ; . 238 

ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION, 215 

ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 254 

REPLY TO JOHN RANDOLPH, 295 

ADDRESS TO LA FAYETTE 290 

MR. CLAYS ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS, 299 

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1825, 820 

ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION, 828 

ON BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION, 841 

DANGER OF THE MILITARY SPIRIT IN A REPUBLIC ' . .856 

ON J. Q. ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION, 859 

ON RETIRING FROM OFFICE, 865 

ON THE BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION, 86!) 

ON THE EFFECT OF THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM ON THE STAPLES OF THE 

SOUTH 888 

ON NULLIFICATION, 893 

ON REDUCTION OF IMPORT DUTIES, 416 

ON MR. VAN BUREN'S NOMINATION AS MINISTER TO ENGLAND, ... 429 
ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM, 43T 



VI CONTENTS OF VOLUMEV. 

PAGB 

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS, ^ 

ON THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY, 516 

ON GENERAL JACKSON'S VETO OF THE BANK BILL, 523 

ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF, 536 

ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF (CONTINUED), 551 

ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF (CONCLUDED), 568 

ON GENERAL JACKSON'S VETO OF THE LAND BILL, 570 

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS, 575 

ON THE RESULTS OF REMOVING THE DEPOSITS, .621 

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY, 624 

ON OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE, 632 

ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEE INDIANS, 687 



a 



SPEECHES 



OP 



HENRY CLAY 



ON DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 

IN SENATE, APRIL 6, 1810. 

[The speeches of Mr. Clay, before popular assemblies, for some 
dozen years after he removed to Kentucky, together with his 
forensic arguments and the part he took in the debates of the 
Legislature of that State for the same period, which laid the 
foundation of his reputation as a public man, and which have 
been represented by those who heard them as among the finest 
specimens of his oratorical and argumentative powers, are not 
extant in any form worthy of being published. It would, in- 
deed, be most interesting, if we were able to display the fervid 
eloquence of Mr. Clay's youth, in company with the speeches of 
his riper years. We should then have before us some of the 
original elements of his fame. The press was not then able, as 
it is now, to send its reporters into the courts, to the hustings, 
and into legislative assemblies, to give to the public the speeches 
of gifted men. Even when Mr. Clay first appeared in the Senate 
of the United States, in 1806, and made several important 
speeches there, especially one on Internal Improvements, the 
press of the day failed to record them ; and it was not till his 
second appearance in that body, when the session of Congress 
was far advanced, that we have an imperfect report of his virgin 
speech on Domestic Manufactures, which is here presented. 
This theme, as is well known to the student of history, was one 
of the great studies of Mr. Clay's public life, which was never 
relaxed to his dying day. A careful attention to this short 
speech will show that it contains all the fundamental elements 



8 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of the same argument which was afterward, during Mr. Clay's 
long public life, so much enlarged, so greatly diversified, so well 
illustrated, and so effectively enforced. In this speech we find 
the germ of all he ever said upon the subject. Mr. Clay's first 
conceptions of a great theme appertaining to'state affairs, were 
next to infallible. He had only occasion to dilate — never to 
change. Even on the bank question, as we shall see, he only 
changed with a change of circumstances. There was no incon- 
sistency. Like a skillful statesman, he had the frankness and 
the boldness to adapt himself to events which at one time were 
against the renewal of the charter, but which afterward rendered 
it imperative. Mr. Clay had previously and eloquently advo- 
cated domestic manufactures, while a member of the Legislature 
of Kentucky, as a State policy. In the Senate of the United 
States, on the 6th of April, 1810, the same subject being in de- 
bate before that body, Mr. Clay spoke as follows :] 

Mr. President — 

The local interest of the quarter of the country, which I have the 
honor to represent, will apologize for the trouble I may give you on this 
occasion. My colleague has proposed an amendment to the bill before 
you, instructing the Secretary of the Navy to provide supplies of cordage, 
sail-cloth, hemp, etc., and to give a preference to those of American 
growth and manufacture. It has been moved by the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Loyd) to strike out this part of the amendment ; and, 
in the course of the discussion which has arisen, remarks have been made 
on the general policy of promoting manufactures. The propriety of this 
policy is, perhaps, not very intimately connected with the subject before 
us; but it is, nevertheless, within the legitimate and admissible scope of 
debate. Under this impression I offer my sentiments. 

In inculcating the advantages of domestic manufactures, it never en- 
tered the head, I presume, of any one, to change the habits of the nation 
from an agricultural to a manufacturing community. No one, I am per- 
suaded, ever thought of converting the plowshare and the sickle into the 
spindle and the shuttle. And yet this is the delusive and erroneous view 
too often taken of the subject. The opponents of the manufacturing 
system transport themselves to the establishments of Manchester and 
Birmingham, and, dwelling on the indigence, vice, and wretchedness pre- 
vailing there, by pushing it to an extreme, argue that its introduction into 
this country will necessarily be attended by the same mischievous and 
dreadful consequences. But what is the fact? That England is the 
manufacturer of a great part of the world ; and that, even there, the num- 
bers thus employed bear an inconsiderable proportion to the whole mass 
of population. Were we to become the manufacturers of other nations, 



ON DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 9 

effects of the same kind might result. But if we limit our efforts, by our 
own wants, the evils "apprehended would be found to be chimerical. The 
invention and improvement of machinery, for which tbe present age is so 
remarkable, dispensing in a great degree with manual labor, and tbe em- 
ployment of those persons who, if we were engaged in the pursuit of 
agriculture alone, would be either unproductive, or exposed to indolence 
and immorality, will enable us to supply our wants without withdrawing 
our attention from agriculture, that first and greatest source of national 
wealth and happiness. A judicious American farmer, in the household 
way, manufactures whatever is requisite for his family. He squanders but 
little in the gewgaws of Europe. He presents, in epitome, what the nation 
ought to be in extenso. Their manufactories should bear the same pro- 
portion, and effect the same object, in relation to the whole community, 
which the part of his household employed in domestic manufacturing 
bears to the whole family. It is certainly desirable that the exports of 
the country should continue to be the surplus production of tillage, and 
not become those of manufacturing establishments. But it is import- 
ant to diminish our imports ; to furnish ourselves with clothing, made 
by our own industry ; and to cease to be dependent, for the very coals we 
wear, upon a foreign and, perhaps, inimical country. The nation that im- 
ports its clothing from abroad is but little less dependent than if it 
imported its bread. 

The fallacious course of reasoning urged against domestic manufactures, 
namely, the distress and servitude produced by those of England, would 
equally indicate the propriety of abandoning agriculture itself. Were 
you to cast your eyes upon the miserable peasantry of Poland, and revert 
to the days of feudal vassalage, you might thence draw numerous argu- 
ments, of the kind now under consideration, against the pursuits of the 
husbandman ! What would become of commerce, the favorite theme of 
some gentlemen, if assailed with this sort of weapon? The fraud, perjury, 
cupidity, and corruption, with which it is unhappily too often attended, 
would at once produce its overthrow. In short, sir, take the black side 
of the picture, and every human occupation will be found pregnant with 
fatal objections. 

The opposition to manufacturing institutions recalls to my recollection 
the case of a gentleman of whom I have heard. He had been in the 
habit of supplying his table from a neighboring cook and confectioner's 
shop, and proposed to his wife a reform in this particular. She revolted at 
the idea. The sight of a scullion was dreadful, and her delicate nerves 
could not bear the clattering of kitchen furniture. The gentleman per- 
sisted in his design ; his table was thenceforth cheaper and better supplied, 
and his neighbor, the confectioner, lost one of his best customers. In like 
manner dame Commerce will oppose domestic manufactures. She is a 
flirting, flippant, noisy jade, and if we are governed by her fantasies, we 
shall never put off the muslins of India and the cloths of Europe. But I 



10 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

trust that the yeomanry of the country, the true and genuine landlords of this 
tenement, called the United States, disregarding her freaks, will persevere 
in reform, until the whole national family is furnished by itself with the 
clothing necessary for its own use. 

It is a subject no less of curiosity than of interest, to trace the prejudices 
in favor of foreign fabrics. In our colonial condition, we were in a com- 
plete state of dependence on the parent country, as it respected manu- 
factures, as well as commerce. For many years after the war, such was 
the partiality for her productions, in this country, that a gentleman's head 
could not withstand the influence of solar heat unless covered with a Lon- 
don hat ; his feet could not bear the pebbles, or frost, unless protected by 
London shoes ; and the comfort or ornament of his person was only 
consulted when his coat was cut out by the shears of a tailor "just from 
London." At length, however, the wonderful discovery has been made, 
that it is not absolutely' beyond the reach of American skill and ingenuity 
to provide these articles, combining with equal elegance greater durability. 
And I entertain no doubt that, in a short time, the no less important fact 
will be developed, that the domestic manufactories of the United States, 
fostered by government, and aided by household exertions, are fully com- 
petent to supply us with at least every necessary article of clothing. I 
therefore, sir, for one (to use the fashionable cant of the day), am in favor 
of encouraging them, not to the extent to which they are carried in En- 
gland, but to such an extent as will redeem us entirely from all dependence 
on foreign countries. There is a pleasure — a pride (if I may be allowed 
the expression, and I pity those who can not feel the sentiment), in being 
clad in the productions of our own families. Others may prefer the cloths 
of Leeds and of Loudon, but give me those of Humphreys ville. 

Aid may be given to native institutions in the form of bounties and of 
protecting duties. But against bounties it is urged that you tax the 
whole for the benefit of a part only of the community ; and in opposition 
to duties it is alleged, that you make the interest of one part, the con- 
sumer, bend to the interest of another part, the manufacturer. The suf- 
ficiency of the answer is not always admitted, that the sacrifice is merely 
temporary, being ultimately compensated by the greater abundance and 
superiority of the article produced by the stimulus. But, of all practical 
forms of encouragement, it might have been expected, that the one under 
consideration would escape opposition, if every thing proposed in Congress 
were not doomed to experience it. What is it? The bill contains two 
provisions — one prospective, anticipating the appropriation for clothing for 
the army, and the amendment purposes extending it to naval supplies, for 
the year 1811 — and the other, directing a preference to be given to home 
manufactures and productions, whenever it can be done without material 
detriment to the public service. The object of the first is, to authorize 
contracts to be made beforehand, with manufacturers, and by making ad- 
vances to them, under proper security, to enable them to supply the article* 



ON DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 11 

wanted in sufficient quantity. When it is recollected that they are fre- 
queutly men of limited capitals, it will he- acknowledged that this kind of 
assistance, bestowed with prudence, will be productive of the best results. 
It is, in fact, only pursuing a principle long acted upon, of advancing to 
contractors with government, on account of the magnitude of their en- 
gagements. The appropriation contemplated to be made for the year 
1811, may be restricted to such a sum as, whether we have peace or war, 
we must necessarily expend. The discretion is proposed to be vested in 
officers of high confidence, who will be responsible for its abuse, and 
who are enjoined to see that the public service receives no material detri- 
ment. It is stated that hemp is now very high, and that contracts, made 
under existing circumstances, will be injurious to government. But the 
amendment creates no obligation upon the Secretary of the Navy, to go 
into market at this precise moment. In fact, by enlarging his sphere of 
action, it admits of his taking advantage of a favorable fluctuation, and 
getting a supply below the accustomed price, if such a fall should occur 
prior to the usual annual appropriation. 

I consider the amendment, under consideration, of the first importance, 
in point of principle. It is evident, that whatever doubt may be enter- 
tained, as to the general policy of the manufacturing system, none can 
exist as to the propriety of our being able to furnish ourselves with 
articles of the first necessity in time of war. Our maritime operations 
ought not, in such a state, to depend upon the casualties of foreign supply. 
It is not necessary that they should. With very little encouragement 
from government, I believe we shall not want a pound of Russia hemp. 
The increase of the article in Kentucky has been rapidly great. Ten 
years ago there were but two rope manufactories in the State. Now there 
are about twenty, and between ten and fifteen of cotton bagging ; and the 
erection of new ones keeps pace with the annual augmentation of the quan- 
tity of hemp. Indeed, the western country, alone, is not only adequate to 
the supply of whatever of this article is requisite for our own consumption, 
but is capable of affording a surplus for foreign markets. The amendment 
proposed possesses the double recommendation of encouraging, at the 
same time, both the manufacture and the growth of hemp. For by increas- 
ing the demand for the wrought article, you also increase the demand for the 
raw material, and consequently present new incentives to its cultivator. 

The three great subjects that claim the attention of the national legisla- 
ture, are the interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. We 
have had before us a proposition to afford a manly protection to the 
rights of commerce, and how has it been treated ? Rejected ! You have 
been solicited to promote agriculture, by increasing the facilities of internal 
commutation, through the means of canals and roads, and what has been 
done ? Postponed ! We are now called upon to give a trifling support to 
our domestic manufactures, and shall we close the circle of congressional 
inefficiency, by adding this also to the catalogue I 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

IN SENATE, DECEMBER 25. 1810. 

[Mr. Clay appears in this speech in defense of Mr. Madison, 
President of the United States, against the opposition, who had 
arraigned the President for having taken possession of a terri- 
tory in dispute between the United States and Spain, extending 
from the Mississippi to the river and bay of the Perdido, which 
is now the western boundary of Florida, and consequently the 
eastern line of Alabama. Florida was originally a colony of 
Spain, and was settled by her. In 1763 it was ceded to Great 
Britain, and afterward receded to Spain in 1783. Louisiana had 
also repeatedly changed hands, first from France to Spain, after- 
ward from Spain to France, and it was sold to the United States 
in 1803, under the administration of Mr. Jefferson. Under all 
these changes, the Perdido had always been the recognized 
boundary between Florida and Louisiana, till Spain came in 
possession of both, when, for her own convenience of jurispru- 
dence, she incorporated with Florida the territory between the 
Perdido and the Mississippi. Hence the dispute between the 
United States and Spain, after the purchas'e of Louisiana by Mr. 
Jefferson. Mr, Madison, in concurrence with the advice of his 
Cabinet, thought proper to put an end to this controversy by 
taking possession of the disputed territory, and the following 
speech was delivered by Mr. Clay in vindication of this course. 
The Louisiana which France ceded to Spain was doubtless the 
same Louisiana which Spain receded to France, and which we 
bought of France ; and its eastern boundary was the Perdido. 
The patent granted by Louis XIV. to Crozat, referred to in this 
speech of Mr. Clay, represents Louisiana as bounded west " by 
New Mexico," and east " by the lands of the English of Caro- 
lina." Although this last line is not very definite, in view of the 
present civil divisions of that country, it is evident enough that 
it could not extend to the Mississippi, nor further west than the 
Perdido ; and this patent of Louis XIV. was the best authority 



ON THE LINE OF THE PEEDIDO. 13 

extant for deciding this question. The ground of Mr. Clay's 
argument, therefore, may he regarded as impregnable. 

It is remarkable that Mr. Clay, while delivering this speech, 
looked forward to the time when Florida would become a part 
of the United States, and that he thought of the Canadas also 
as having a like probable destiny.] 

Mr. President — 

It would have gratified me if some other gentleman had undertaken 
to reply to the ingenious argument, which you have just heard. (From 
Mr. Horsey, of Delaware.) But not perceiving any one disposed to do so, 
a sense of duty obliges me, though very unwell, to claim your indulgence, 
while I offer my sentiments on this subject, so interesting to the Union at 
large, but especially to the western portion of it. Allow me, sir, to express 
my admiration at the more than Aristidean justice, which in a question of 
territorial title between the United States and a foreign nation, induces cer- 
tain gentlemen to espouse the pretensions of the foreign nation. Doubtless, 
in any future negotiations, she will have too much magnanimity to avail 
herself of these spontaneous concessions in her favor, made on the floor of 
the Senate of the United States. 

It was to have been expected, that, in a question like the present, gentle- 
men, even on the same side, would have different views, and although 
arriving at a common conclusion, would do so by various arguments. 
And hence the honorable gentleman from Vermont entertains doubt with 
regard to our title against Spain, while he feels entirely satisfied of it 
against France. Believing, as I do, that our title against both powers is 
indisputable, under the treaty of St. Ildefonso, between Spain and France, 
and the treaty between the French republic and the United States, I shall 
not inquire into the treachery, by which the King of Spain is alleged to 
have lost his crown ; nor shall I stop to discuss the question involved in 
the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy, and how far the power of Spain 
ought to be considered as merged in that of France. I shall leave the 
honorable gentleman from Delaware to mourn over the fortunes of the 
fallen Charles. I have no commiseration for princes. My sympathies are 
reserved for the great mass of mankind, and I own that the people of Spain 
have them most sincerely. 

I will adopt the course suggested by the nature of the subject, and 
pursued by other gentlemen, of examining into our title to the country 
lying between the Mississippi and the Rio Perdido (which, to avoid cir- 
cumlocution, I will call West Florida, although it is not the whole of it) 
and the propriety of the recent measures taken for the occupation of that 
Territory. Our title, then, depends, first, upon the limits of the province 
or colony of Louisiana, and, secondly, upon a just exposition of the treaties 
before mentioned. 



14 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

On this occasion it is only necessary to fix the eastern boundary. In 
order to ascertain this, it Avill be proper to take a cursory view of the 
settlement of the country, because the basis of European title to colonies in 
America, is prior discovery, or prior occupancy. In 1682, La Salle mi- 
grated from Canada, then owned by France, descended the Mississippi, and 
named the country which it waters, Louisiana. About 1698, D'Iberville 
discovered, by sea, the mouth of the Mississippi, established a colony at the 
Isle of Dauphine, or Massacre, which lies at tlie mouth of the bay of Mo- 
bile, and one at the mouth of the river Mobile, and was appointed, by 
France, governor of the country. In the year 1717, the famous West 
India Company sent inhabitants to the Isle of Dauphine, and found some 
of those who had settled there under the auspices of D'Iberville. About 
the same period, Baloxi, near the Pascagoula, was settled. In 1719, the 
city of New Orleans was laid oft', and the seat of government of Louisiana 
was established there; and in 1736 the French erected a fort ou Tombig- 
bee. These facts prove that France had the actual possession of the 
country as far east as the Mobile, at least. But the great instrument which 
ascertains, beyond all doubt, that the country in question is comprehended 
within the limits of Louisiana, is one of the most authentic and solemn 
character which the archives of a nation can furnish. I mean the patent 
granted in 1712, by Louis XIV., to Crozat. [Mr. C. read such parts of 
the patent as were applicable to his purpose.] According to this document, 
in describing the province or colony of Louisiana, it is declared to be 
bounded by Carolina on the east, and Old and New Mexico on the west. 
Under this high record evidence, it might be insisted that we have a fair 
claim to East as well as West Florida, against Frauce, at least, unless she 
has, by some convention, or other obligatory act, restricted the eastern 
limit of the province. It has, indeed, been asserted, that, by a treaty be- 
tween France and Spain, concluded in the year 1719, the Perdido was 
expressly stipulated to be the boundary between their respective provinces 
of Florida on the east, and Louisiana on the west ; but as I have been un- 
able to find any such treaty, I am induced to doubt its existence. 

About the same period, to wit, toward the close of the seventeenth 
century, when France settled the Isle of Dauphine, and the Mobile, Spain 
erected a fort at Pensacola. But Spain never pushed her actual settle- 
ments, or conquests, further west than the bay of Pensacola, while those 
of the French were bounded on the east by the Mobile. Between these 
two points, a space of about thirteen or fourteen leagues, neither nation 
had the exclusive possession. The Rio Perdido, forming the bay of the 
same name, discharges itself into the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mobile 
and Pensacola, and, being a natural and the most notorious object between 
them, presented itself as a suitable boundary between the possessions of 
the two nations. It accordingly appears very early to have been adopt- 
ed as the boundary, by tacit if not expressed consent.. The ancient charts 
and historians, therefore of the country, so represent it. Dupratz, one of 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 15 

the most accurate historians of the time, in point of fact and detail, whose 
work was published as early as 1758, describes the coast as being bounded 
on the east by the Rio Perdido. In truth, sir, no European nation what- 
ever, except France, ever occupied any portion of West Florida, prior to 
her cession of it to England, iu 1762. The gentlemen on the other side 
do not, indeed, strongly controvert, if they do not expressly admit, that- 
Louisiana, as held by the French anterior to the cession of it in 1762, ex- 
tended to the Perdido. The only observation made by the gentleman 
from Delaware to the contrary, to wit, that the island of New Orleans, be- 
ing particularly mentioned, could not, for that reason, constitute a part of 
Louisiana, is susceptible of a very satisfactory answer. That island was 
excepted out of the grant to England, and was the only part of the province 
east of the river that was so excepted. It formed in itself one of the 
most prominent and important objects of the cession to Spain originally, 
and was transferred to her with the portion of the province west of the 
Mississippi. It might with equal propriety be urged that St. Augustine is 
not in East Florida, because St. Augustine is expressly mentioned by Spain 
in her cession of that province to England. From this view of the 
subject, I think it results that the province of Louisiana comprised West 
Florida, previous to the year 1762. 

What was done with it at this epoch ? By a secret convention of the 
third of November, of that year, France ceded the country lying west of 
the Mississippi, and the island of New Orleans, to Spain ; and by a cotem- 
poraneous act, the articles preliminary to the definitive treaty of 1763, she 
transferred West Florida to England. Thus, at the same instant of time, 
she alienated the whole province. Posterior to this grant, Great Britain, 
having also acquired from Spain her possessions east of the Mississippi, 
erected the country into two provinces, East and West Florida. In this 
state of things it continued until the peace of 1783, when Great Britain, 
in consequence of the events of the war, surrendered the country to Spain, 
who, for the first time, came into actual possession of West Florida. 
Well, sir, how does she dispose of it ? She reannexes it to the residue of 
Louisiana, extends the jurisdiction of that government to it, and sub- 
jects the governors, or commandants, of the districts of Baton Rouge, 
Feliciana, Mobile, and Pensacola, to the authority of the governor of Lou- 
isiana, residing at New Orleans; while the governor of East Florida is 
placed wholly without his control, and is made amenable directly to the 
governor of the Havannah. Indeed, sir, I have been credibly informed, 
that all the concessions, or grants of land, made iu West Florida, under 
the authority of Spain, run in the name of the government of Louisiana. 
You can not have forgotten that, about the period when we took posses- 
sion of New Orleans, under the treaty of cession from France, the whole 
country resounded with the nefarious speculations which were alleged to 
be making in that city with the connivance, if not actual participation, of 
the Spanish authorities, by the procurement of surreptitious grants of 



16 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

land, particularly in the district of Feliciana. West Florida, then, not 
only as France had held it, but as it was in the hands of Spain, made a 
part of the province of Louisiana, as much so as the jurisdiction or dis- 
trict of Baton Rouge constituted a part of West Florida. 

What, then, is the true construction of the treaties of St. Ildefonso, and 
of April, 1803, from whence our title is derived? If an ambiguity exist 
in a grant, the interpretation most favorable to the grantee is preferred. 
It was the duty of the grantor to have expressed himself in plain and in- 
telligible terms. This is the doctiine, not of Coke only (whose dicta I 
admit have nothing to do with the question), but. of the code of universal 
law. The doctrine is entitled to augmented force, when a clause only of 
the instrument is exhibited, in which clause the ambiguity lurks, and the 
residue of the instrument is kept back by the grantor. The entire conven- 
tion of 1762, by which France transferred Louisiana to Spain, is concealed, 
and the whole of the treaty of St. Ildefonso, except a sol'tary cLuse. We 
are thus deprived of the aid which a full view of both of those instru- 
ments would afford. But we have no occasion to resort to any rules of 
construction, however reasonable in themselves, to establish our title. A 
competent knowledge of the facts connected with the case, and a candid 
appeal to the treaties, are alone sufficient to manifest our right. The ne- 
gotiators of the treaty of 1803, having signed, with the same ceremony, 
two copies, one in English and the other in the French language, it has 
been contended, that in the English version the term ' cede' hns been er- 
roneously used instead of 'retrocede,' which is the expression in the 
French copy. And it is argued, that we are bound by the phraseology of 
the French copy, because it is declared that the treaty was agreed to in 
that language. It would not be very unfair to inquire, if this is not like 
the common case in private life, where individuals enter into a contract of 
which each party retains a copy, duly executed. In such case, neither has 
the preference. We might as well say to France, we will cling by the 
English copy, as she could insist upon an adherence to the French copy; 
and if she urged ignorance on the part of Mr. M irbois, her negotiator, of 
our language, we might with equal propriety plead ignorance, on the part 
of our negotiators, of her language. As this, however, is a disputable 
point, I do not avail myself of it ; gentlemen shall have the full benefit 
of the expressions in the French copy. According to this, then, in recit- 
ing the treaty of St. Ildefonso, it is declared by Spain, in 1800, that she 
retrocedes to France, the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same 
extent which it then had in the hands of Spain, and which it had when 
France possessed it, and such as it should be after the treaties sub-equently 
entered into between Spain and other states. This latter member of the 
description has been sufficietly explained by my colleague. 

It is said, that since France, in 1762, ceded to Spain only Loirsiana west 
of the Mississippi, and the Island of New Orleans, the retrocession com- 
prehended no more — that the retrocession ex vi termini was commensurate 



ON THE LINK OF THE PERDIDO. 17 

with and limited by the direct cession from France to Spain. If this were 
true, then the description, such as Spaia held it, that is, in 1800, compris- 
ing West Florida, and such as France possessed it, that is, in 1762, prior 
to the several cessions, comprising also West Florida, would be totally in- 
operative. But the definition of the term retrocession contended for by 
the other side is denied. It does not exclude the instrumentality of a third 
party. It means restoration, or reconveyance of a thing originally ceded, 
and so the gentleman from Delaware acknowledged. I admit that the 
thing restored must have come to the restoring party from the party to 
whom it is retroceded ; whether directly or indirectly is wholly immaterial. 
In its passage it may have come through a dozen hands. The retroceding 
party must claim under and in virtue of the right originally possessed by 
the party to whom the retrocession takes place. Allow me to put a case. 
You own an estate called Louisiana. You convey one moiety of it to the 
gentleman from Delaware, and the other to me ; he conveys his moiety to 
me, and I thus become entitled to the whole. By a suitable instrument I 
reconvey, or retrocede the estate called Louisiana to you as I now hold it, 
and as you held it ; what passes to you ? The whole estate or my moiety 
only ? Let me indulge another supposition, to wit : that the gentleman from 
Delaware, after he received from you his moiety, bestowed a new denomin- 
tion upon it and called it West Florida ; — would that circumstance vary 
the operation of my act of retrocession to you? The case supposed, is, in 
truth, the real one between the United States and Spain. France, in 1762, 
transfers Louisiana, west of the Mississippi, to Spain, and at the same time 
conveys the eastern portion of it, exclusive of New Orleans, to Great 
Britain. Twerty-one years after, that is, in 1783, Great Britain cedes her 
part to Spain, who thus becomes possessed of the entire province ; one 
portion by direct cession from France, and the residue by indirect cession. 
Spain, then, held the whole of Louisiana under France, and in virtue of 
the title of France. The whole moved or passed from France to her. 
When, therefore, in this state of things, she says, in the treaty of St. Ude- 
fonso, that she retrocedes the province to France, can a doubt exist that 
she parts with, and gives back to France the entire colony ? To preclude 
the possibility of such a doubt, she adds, that she restores it, not in a mu- 
tilated condition, but in that precise condition in which France and she 
herself had possessed it. 

Having thus shown, as I conceive, a clear right in the United States to 
West Florida, I proceed to inquire, if the proclamation of the president 
directing the occupation of propeaty, which is thus fairly acquired by 
solemn treaty, be an unauthorized measure of war and of legislation, as has 
been contended ? 

The act of October, 1803, contains two sections, by one of which the 
president is authorized to occupy the territories ceded to us by France in 
the April preceding. The other empowers the president to establish a 
provisional government there. The first section is unlimited in its dura- 

2 



18 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

. 

tion ; the other is restricted to the expiration of the then session of Con- 
gress. The act, therefore, of March, 1804, declaring that the previous act 
of October should continue in force until the first of October, 1804, is ap- 
plicable to the second and not to the first section, and was intended to 
continue the provisional government of the president. By the act of 
24th February, 1804, for laying duties on goods imported into the ceded 
territories, the president is empowered, whenever he deems it expedient, to 
erect the bay and river Mobile, etc., into a separate district, and to estab- 
lish therein a port of entry and delivery. By this same act the Orleans 
territory is laid off, and its boundaries are so defined, as to comprehend 
West Florida. By other acts the president is authorized to remove by 
force, under certain circumstances, persons settling on, or taking possession 
of lands ceded to the United States. 

These laws furnish a legislative construction of the treaty, corresponding 
with that given by the executive, and they indisputably vest in this branch 
of the general government the power to take possession of the country, 
whenever it might be proper in his discretion. The president has not, 
therefore, violated the constitution and usurped the war-making power, 
but he would have violated that provision which requires him to see that 
the laws are faithfully executed, if he had longer forborne to act. It is 
urged, that he has assumed powers belonging to Congress, in undertaking 
to annex the portion of West Florida, between the Mississippi and the 
Perdido, to the Orleans territory. But Congress, as has been shown, has 
already made this annexation, the limits of the Orleans territory, as pre- 
scribed by Congress, comprehending the country in question. The pres- 
ident, by his proclamation, has not made law, but has merely declared to 
the people of West Florida, what the law is. This is the office of a proc- 
lamation, and it was highly proper that the people of that territory should 
be thus notified. By the act of occupying the country, the government 
de facto, whether of Spain, or the revolutionists, ceased to exist ; and the 
laws of the Orleans territory, applicable to the country, by the operation 
and force of law, attached to it. But this was a state of things which the 
people might not know, ami which every dictate of justice and humanity, 
therefore, required should be proclaimed. T consider the bill before us 
merely in the light of a declaratory law. 

Never could a more propitious moment present itself for the exercise 
of the discretionary power placed in the president ; and. had he failed to 
embrace it, he would have been criminally inattentive to the dearest in- 
terests of this country. It can not be too often repeated, that if Cuba on 
the one hand, and Florida on the other, are in the possession of a for- 
eign maritime power, the immense extent of country belonging to the 
United States, and watered by streams discharging themselves into the 
Gulf of Mexico — that is, one third, nay, more than two thirds of the 
United States, comprehending Louisiana, are placed at the mercy of that 
power. The possession of Florida is a guaranty absolutely necessary to 



ON THE LINE OF THE PEKDIDO. 19 

the enjoyment of the navigation of those streams. The gentleman from 
Delaware anticipates the most direful consequences from the occupation 
of the country. He supposes a sally from a Spanish garrison upon the 
American forces, and asks what is to he done ? We attempt a peaceful 
possession of the country to which we are fairly entitled. If the wrongful 
occupants, under the authority of Spain, assail our troops, I trust they 
will retrieve the lost honor of the nation, in the case of the Chesapeake. 
Suppose an attack upon any portion of the American army, within the 
acknowledged limits of the United States, by a Spanish force ? In such 
event, there would exist hut a single honorable and manly course. The 
gentleman conceives it ungenerous that we should at this moment, when 
Spain is encompassed and pressed, on all sides, by the immense power 
of her enemy, occupy West Florida. Shall we sit by, passive spectators, 
and witness the interesting transactions of that country — transactions which 
tend, in the most imminent degree, to jeopardize our rights, without at- 
tempting to interfere ? Are you prepared to see a foreign power seize 
what belongs to us ? I have heard, in the most credible manner, that, 
about the period when the president took his measures in relation to that 
country, agents of a foreign power were intriguing with the people there, 
to induce them to come under his dominion ; but whether this be the fact 
or not, it can not be doubted, that if you neglect the present auspicious 
moment, if you reject the proffered boon, some other nation, profiting by 
your errors, will seize the occasion to get a fatal footing in your southern 
frontier. I have no hesitation in saying, that if a parent country will not 
or can not maintain its authority, in a colony adjacent to us, and there 
exists in it a state of misrule and disorder, menacing our peace ; and if, 
moreover, such colony, by passing into the hands of any other power, 
would become dangerous to the integrity of the Union, and manifestly 
tend to the subversion of our laws, we have a right, upon the eternal 
principles of self-preservation, to lay hold upon it. This principle alone, 
independent of any title, would warrant our occupation of West Florida. 
But it is not necessary to resort to it— our title being, in my judgment, 
incontestably good. We are told of the vengeance of resuscitated Spain. 
If Spain, under any modification of her government, choose to make war 
upon us, for the act under consideration, the nation, I have no doubt, 
will be willing to embark in such a contest. But the gentleman reminds 
us that Great Britain, the ally of Spain, may be obliged, by her connec- 
tion with that country, to take part with her against us, and to consider 
this measure of the president as justifying an appeal to arms. Sir, is the 
time never to arrive when we may manage our own affairs without the 
fear of insulting his Britannic majesty ? Is the rod of British power to be 
forever suspended over our heads ? Does Congress put on an embargo to 
shelter our rightful commerce against the piratical depredations committed 
upon it on the ocean ? We are immediately warned of the indignation 
of offended England. Is a law of non-intercourse proposed ? The whole 



20 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

navy of the haughty mistress of the seas is made to thunder in our ears. 
Does the president refuse to continue a correspondence with a minister 
who violates the decorum belonging to his diplomatic character, by giving 
and deliberately repeating an affront to the whole nation ? We are in- 
stantly menaced with the chastisement which English pride will not fail to 
inflict. Whether we assert our rights by sea, or attempt their mainte- 
nance by land — whithersoever we turn ourselves, this phantom incessantly 
pursues us. Already has it had too much influence on the councils of 
the nation. It contributed to the repeal of the embargo — that dishonor- 
able repeal, which has so much tarnished the character of our govern- 
ment. Mr. President, I have before said on this floor, and now take 
occasion to remark, that I most sincerely desire peace and amity with En- 
gland; that I even prefer an adjustment of all differences with her, before 
one with any other nation. But if she persists in a denial of justice to 
us, or if she avails herself of the occupation of West Florida, to commence 
war upon us, I trust and hope that all hearts will unite in a bold and 
vigorous vindication of our rights. I do not believe, however, in the pre- 
diction that war will be the effect of the measure in question. 

It is asked, why, some years ago, when the interruption of the right 
of deposit took place at New Orleans, the government did not declare 
war against Spain ? and how it has happened that there has been this 
long acquiescence in the Spanish possession of West Florida ? The an- 
swer is obvious. It consists in the genius of the nation, which is prone 
to peace ; in that desire to arrange, by friendly negotiation, our disputes 
with all nations, which has constantly influenced the present and preced- 
ing administrations ; and in the jealousy of armies, with which we have 
been inspired by the melancholy experience of free estates. But a new 
state of things has arisen : negotiation has become hopeless. The power 
with whom it was to be conducted, if not annihilated, is in a situation 
that precludes it ; and the subject-matter of it is in danger of being 
snatched forever from our power. Longer delay would be construed into 
a dereliction of our right, and would amount to treachery to ourselves. 
May I ask, in my turn, why certain gentlemen, now so fearful of war, 
were so urgent for it with Spain, when she withheld the right of deposit ? 
and still later, when in 1805 or 6, this very subject of the actual limits of 
Louisiana, was before Congress ? I will not say, because I do not know 
that I am authorized to say, that the motive is to be found in the 
change of relation between Spain and other European powers, since 
those periods. 

Does the honorable gentleman from Delaware really believe, that he 
finds in St. Domingo a case parallel with that of West Florida ? and that 
our government, having interdicted an illicit commerce with the former, 
ought not to have interposed in relation to the latter ? It is scarcely nec- 
essary to consume your time by remarking, that we had no pretension to 
that island ; that it did not menace our repose, nor did the safety of the 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 21 

United States require that they should occupy it. It became, therefore, 
our duty to attend to the just remonstrance of France, against American 
citizens' supplying the rebels with the means of resisting her power. 

I am not, sir, in favor of cherishing the passion of conquest. But I 
must be permitted, in conclusion, to indulge the hope of seeing, ere long, 
the new United States (if you will allow me the expression) embracing, 
not only the old thirteen States, but the entire country east of the Mis- 
sissippi, including East Florida, and some of the territories of the north 
of us also. 



ON RENEWING THE CHARTER OF THE FIRST 
BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 

IN SENATE, 1811, 

[In the strifes of parties in Mr. Clay's time, his opponents 
never forgot to accuse hirn of changing his opinion on the con- 
stitutionality of a national bank, as if it were a reproach, or a 
grave political offense ; whereas he is a wise man who changes 
for sufficient reasons, and a bold man frankly to confess it. The 
change, however, in this case of Mr. Clay, was only apparent — 
certainly not inconsistent. When Mr. Clay opposed the re- 
charter of the bank of the United States in 1811, the country 
was prosperous, and the State banks in a sound and healthy 
condition. But the war of 1812 came on, during which most 
of the State banks suspended, and at the end of that war, the 
currency of the country was in a most deplorable condition. 
The General Government was without an authorised fiscal 
agent, and the commerce and trade of the country languished 
for lack of a uniform currency. Although the nation had acqui- 
esced in the decision of Congress, in 1811, not to re-charter the 
bank of the United States, in 1816 there was a universal demand 
for a national bank, and a bill being brought into Congress for 
that object, Mr. Clay advocated it. His speech not having been 
published, he afterward delivered an address to his constituents, 
in explanation of the reasons of his course as differing from that 
of 1811, when he opposed the re-charter of the bank, as set forth 
in the following speech. His reasons were, first, that in 1811 
he was instructed by the Legislature of Kentucky, to oppose the 
renewal of the charter, and that, in 1816, the voice of his con- 
stituents was in favor of a national bank. Next, in 1811, he 
had evidence that the bank had used its power to subserve the 
views of a political party, but the provisions of the new bill, in 1816, 
had sufficiently guarded against such an abuse of power ; and, 
lastly, that the necessity of a national bank was not apparent in 
1811, but that it had become so in 1816, and that it was thus 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 23 

brought within the specified powers of the Constitution. In 
1816, therefore, all doubts as to the constitutionality of a national 
bank were removed, in which all parties were agreed. 

It could hardly be said, therefore, that Mr. Clay changed his 
opinion. He merely adopted a course indicated by the light of 
events. In 1811 he was guided by events. So in 1816. In 
statesmanship, as in the strategies of war, leaders are forced to 
change their position .according to the change of circumstances. 
This is not necessarily a change of opinion on a specified ques- 
tion, when the question itself is modified by events, but a wise 
adaptation of policy to the new aspects of the question. The 
following are Mr. Clay's views in 1811. We shall see, by-and- 
by, what they were in 1816.] 

Mr. President — 

When the subject involved in the motion now under consideration was 
depending- before the other branch of the Legislature, a disposition to ac 
quiesce in their decision was evinced. For although the committee who 
reported this bill, had been raised many weeks prior to the determination 
of that House, on the proposition to re-eharter the bank, except the occa- 
sional reference to it of memorials and petitions, we scarcely ever heard of 
it. The rejection, it is true, of a measure brought before either branch of 
Congress, does not absolutely preclude the other from taking up the same 
proposition ; but the economy of our time, and a just deference for the 
opinion of others, would seem to recommend a delicate and cautions exer- 
cise of this power. As this subject, at the memorable period when the 
charter was granted, called forth the best talents of the nation, as it has, 
on various occasions, undergone the most thorough investigation, and as 
we can hardly expect that it is susceptible of receiving any further eluci- 
dation, it was to be hoped that we should have been spared useless debate. 
This was the more desirable, because there are, I conceive, much superior 
claims upon us for every hour of the small portion of the session yet 
remaining to us. Under the operation of these motives, I had resolved to 
give a silent vote, until I felt myself hound, by the defying manner of the 
arguments advanced in support of the renewal, to obey the paramount 
duties I owe my country and its Constitution, to make one effort, however 
feeble, to avert the passage of what appears to me a most unjustifiable law. 
After my honorable friend from Virginia (Mr. Giles) had instructed and 
amused us with the very able and ingenious argument which he delivered 
on yesterday, I should have still forborne to trespass on the Senate, but for 
the extraordinary character of his speech. lie discussed both sides of the 
question, with great ability and eloquence, and certainly demonstrate 1, to 
the satisfaction of all who heard him, both that it was constitutional and 
unconslitutional, highly proper and improper, to prolong the charter of 



24 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the bank. The honorable gentleman appeared to me in the predicament 
in which the celebrated orator of Virginia, Patrick Henry, is said to have 
been once placed. Engaged in a most extensive and lucrative practice of 
the law, he mistook, in one instance, the side of the cause in which he was 
retained, and addressed the court and jury in a very masterly and convin- 
cing speech, in behalf of his antagonist. His distracted client came up to 
him, while he was thus employed, and, interrupting him, bitterly ex- 
claimed, " You have undone me ! You have ruined me !" " Never mind, 
give yourself no concern," said the adroit advocate ; and turning to the 
court and jury, continued his argument, by observing, " May it please your 
honors, and you, gentlemen of the jury, I have been stating to you what 
I presume my adversary may urge on his side. I will now show you how 
fallacious his reasonings, and groundless his pretensions, are." The skill- 
ful orator proceeded, satisfactorily refuted every argument he had advanced, 
and gained his cause ! — a success with which I trust the exertbn of my 
honorable friend will on this occasion be crowneJ. 

It has been said, by the honorable gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Craw- 
ford) that this has been made a party question ; although the law incorporat- 
ing the bank was passed prior to the formation of parties, and when Congress 
was not biased by party prejudices. (Mr. Crawford explained. He did 
not mean, that it had been made a party question in the Senate. His 
allusion was elsewhere.) I did not think it altogether fair, to refer to the 
discussions in the House of Representatives, as gentlemen belonging to that 
body have no opportunity of defending themselves here. It is true that 
this law was not the effect, but it is no less true that it was one of the causes, 
of the political divisions in this country. And if, during the agitation 
of the present question, the renewal has, on one side, been opposed on 
party principles, let me ask if, on the other, it has not been advocated on 
similar principles. Where is the Macedonian phalanx, the opposition, in 
Congress % I believe, sir, I shall not incur the charge of presumptuous 
prophecy, when I predict we shall not pick up from its ranks one single 
straggler ! And if, on this occasion, my worthy friend from Georgia has 
gone'over into the camp of the enemy, is it kind in him to look back upon 
his former friends, and rebuke them for the fidelity with which they adhere 
to their old principles? 

I shall not stop to examine how far a representative is bound by the in- 
structions of his constituents. That is a question between the giver and 
receiver of the instructions. But I must be permitted to express my sur- 
prise at the pointed difference which has been made between the opinions 
and instructions of State Legislatures, and the opinions and details of the 
deputations with which we have been surrounded from Philadelphia. 
While the resolutions of those Legislatures— known, legitimate, constitu- 
tional, and deliberative bodies— have been thrown into the back-ground, and 
their interference regarded as officious, these delegations from self-created 
societies, composed of nobody knows whom, have been received by the 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 25 

committee, with the utmost complaisance. Their communications have 
been treasured up with the greatest diligence. Never did the Delphic 
priests collect with more holy care the frantic expressions of the agitated 
Pythia, or expound them with more solemnity to the astonished Grecians, 
than has the committee gathered the opinions and testimonies of these dep- 
uties, and, through the gentleman from Massachusetts, pompously detailed 
them to the Senate ! Philadelphia has her immediate representative, cap- 
able of expressing her wishes, upon the floor of the other House. If it be 
improper for States to obtrude upon Congress their sentiments, it is much 
more highly so for the unauthorized deputies of fortuitous congregations. 

The first singular feature that attracts attention in this bill, is the new 
and unconstitutional veto which it establishes. The Constitution has re- 
quired only, that after bills have passed the House of Representatives and 
the Senate, they shall be presented to the president, for his approval or re- 
jection ; and his determination is to be made known in ten days. But 
this bill provides, that when all the constitutional sanctions are obtained, 
and when, according to the usual routine of legislation, it ought to be con- 
sidered as a law, it is to be submitted to a new branch of the Legislature, 
consisting of the president and twenty-four directors of the bank of the 
United States, holding their sessions in Philadelphia ; and if they please 
to approve it, why then it is to become a law ! And three months (the 
term allowed by our law of May last, to one of the great belligerents, for 
revoking his edicts, after the other shall have repealed his) are granted 
them, to decide whether an act of Congress shall be the law of the land 
or not ! — an act which is said to be indispensably necessary to our salva- 
tion, and without the passage of which, universal distress and bankruptcy 
are to pervade the country. Remember, sir, the honorable gentleman 
from Georgia, has contended that this charter is no contract. Does it, 
then, become the representatives of the nation, to leave the nation at the 
mercy of a corporation ? Ought the impending calamities to be left to the 
hazard of a contingent remedy ? 

This vagrant power to erect a bank, after having wandered throughout 
the whole Constitution in quest of some congenial spot to fasten upon, has 
been at length located by the gentleman from Georgia on that provision 
which authorizes Congress to lay and collect taxes, etc. In 1791, the 
power is referred to one part of the instrument; in 1811, to another. 
Sometimes it is alleged to be deducible from the power to regulate com- 
merce. Hard pressed here, it disappears, and shows itself under the grant 
to coin money. The sagacious Secretary of the Treasury, in 1791, pur- 
sued the wisest course ; he has taken shelter behind general high sound- 
inn- and imposing terms. He has declared, in the preamble to the act 
establishing the bank, that it will be very conducive to the successful con- 
ducting of the national finances; will tend to give facility' to the obtaining 
of loans, and will be productive of considerable advantage to trade and 
industry in general. No allusion is made to the collection of taxes. 



26 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

What is the nature of this government 2 It is emphatically federal, vested 
with an agoregate of specified powers for general purposes, conceded by 
existing 1 sovereignties, who have themselves retained what is not so con- 
ceded. It is said that there are cases in which it must act on implied 
powers. This is not controverted, but the implication must be necessary, 
and obviously flow from the enumerated power with which it is allied. 
The power to charter companies is not specified in the grant, and I con- 
tend is of a nature not transferable by mere implication. It is one of the 
most exalted attributes of sovereignty. In the exercise of this gigantic 
power we have seen an East India company created, which has carried 
dismay, desolation, and death, throughout one of the largest portions of 
the habitable world — a company which is, in itself, a sovereignty, which 
has subverted empires and set up new dynasties, and has not only made 
war, but war against its legitimate sovereign ! Under the influence of 
this power, we have seen arise a South Sea company, and a Mississippi 
company, that distracted and convulsed all Europe, and menaced a total 
overthrow of all credit and confidence, and universal bankruptcy. Is it 
to be imagined that a power so vast would have been left by the wisdom 
of the Constitution to doubtful inference ? It has been alleged that there 
are many instances, in the Constitution, where powers in their nature inci- 
dental, and which would have necessarily been vested along with the prin- 
cipal, are nevertheless expressly enumerated ; and the power " to make 
rules and regulations for the government of the land and naval forces," 
which it is said is incidental to the power to raise armies and provide a 
navy, is given as an example. What does this prove? How extremely 
cautious the convention were to leave as little as possible to implication. 
Iu all cases where incidental powers are acted upon, the principal and 
incidental ought to be congenial with each other, and partake of a com- 
mon nature. The incidental power ought to be strictly subordinate and 
limited to the end proposed to be attained by the specified power. In 
other words, under the name of accomplishing one object which is speci- 
fied, the power implied ought not to be made to embrace other objects, 
which are not specified in the Constitution. If, then, you could establish 
a bank, to collect and distribute the revenue, it ought to be expressly re- 
stricted to the purpose of such collection and distribution. It is mockery, 
worse than usurpation, to establish it for a lawful object, and then to ex- 
tend it to other objects which are not lawful. In deducing the power to 
create corporations, such as I have described it, from the power to collect 
taxes, the relation and condition of principal and incident are prostrated 
and destroyed. The accessory is exalted above the principal. As well 
might it be said, that the great luminary of day is an accessory, a satel- 
lite, to the humblest star that twinkles forth its feeble light in the firma- 
ment of heaven ! 

Suppose the Constitution had been silent as to an individual department 
of this government, could you, under the power to lay and collect taxes 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 27 

establish a judiciary ? I presume not ; but if you could derive the 
power by mere implication, could you vest it with any other authority 
than to enforce the collection of the revenue ? A bank is made for the 
ostensible purpose of aiding in the collection of the revenue, and while 
it is engaged in this, the most inferior and subordinate of all its func- 
tions, it is made to diffuse itself throughout society, and to influence all 
the great operations of credit, circulation, and commerce. Like the Vir- 
ginia justice, you tell the man whose turkey had been stolen, that your 
books of precedent furnish no form for his case, but that you will grant 
him a precept to search for a cow, and when looking for that he may 
possibly find his turkey ! You say to this corporation, we can not author- 
ize you to discount, to emit paper, to regulate commerce, etc. No ! Our 
book has no precedents of that kind. But then we can authorize you to 
collect the revenue, and, while occupied with that, you may do whatever 
else you please ! 

What is a corporation, such as the bill contemplates ? It is a splendid 
association of favored individuals, taken from the mass of society, and in- 
vested with exemptions and surrounded by immunities and privileges. 
The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lloyd) has said, that 
the original law, establishing the bank, was justly liable to the objection of 
vesting in that institution an exclusive privilege, the faith of the govern- 
ment being pledged, that no other bank should be authorized during its 
existence. This objection, he supposes, is obviated by the bill under con- 
sideration; but all corporations enjoy exclusive privileges; that is, the 
corporators have privileges which no others possess ; if you create fifty 
corporations instead of one, you have only fifty privileged bodies instead 
of one. I contend that the States have the exclusive power to regulate 
contracts, to declare the capacities and incapacities to contract, and to 
provide as to the extent of responsibility of debtors to their ere liters. If 
Congress have the power to erect an artificial body, and say it shall be 
endowed with the attributes of an individual ; if you can bestow on this 
object of your own creation the ability to contract, may you not, in con- 
travention of State rights, confer upon slaves, infants, and femes covert 
the ability to contract ? And if you have the power to say that an asso- 
ciation of individuals shall be responsible for their debts only in a certain 
limited degree, what is to prevent an extension of a similar exemption to 
individuals ? Where is the limitation upon this power to set up corpora- 
tions % You establish one in the heart of a State, the basis of whose 
capital is money. You may erect others whose capital shall consist of 
land, slaves, and personal estates, and thus the whole property within the 
jurisdiction of a State might be absorbed by these political bodies. The 
existing bank contends that it is beyond the power of a State to tax it, and 
if this pretension be well founded, it is in the power of Congress, by chart- 
ering companies, to dry up all the sources of State revenue. Georgia has 
undertaken, it is true, to levy a tax on the branch within her jurisdiction, 



28 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

but this law, now under a course of litigation, is considered as invalid. 
The United States own a great deal of land in the State of Ohio ; can 
this government, for the purpose of creating an ability to purchase it, 
charter a company ? Aliens are forbidden, I believe, in that State, to 
hold real estate ; could you, in order to multiply purchasers, confer upon 
them the capacity to hold land, in derogation of the local law ? I im- 
agine this will be hardly insisted upon ; and yet there exists a more ob- 
vious connection between the undoubted power which is possessed by this 
government, to sell its land, and the means of executing that power by 
increasing - the demand in the market, than there is between this bank and 
the collection of a tax. This government has the power to levy taxes, to 
raise armies, provide a navy, make war, regulate commerce, coin money, 
etc., etc. It would not be difficult to show as intimate a connection be- 
tween a corporation, established for any purpose whatever, and some one 
or other of those great powers, as there is between the revenue and the 
bank of the United States. 

Let us inquire into the actual participation of this bank in the collection 
of the revenue. Prior to the passage of the act of 1800, requiring the 
collectors of those ports of entry, at which the principal bank, or any of 
its offices are situated, to deposit with them the custom-house bonds, it 
had not the smallest agency in the collection of the duties. During al- 
most one moiety of the period to which the existence of this institution 
was limited, it was nowise instrumental in the collection of that revenue 
to which it is now become indispensable ! The collection, previous to 
1800, was made entirely by the collectors; and even at present where 
thee is one port of entry, at which this bank is employed, there are 
eiffht or ten at which the collection is made as it was before 1800. Aud, 
sir, what does this bank or its branches, where resort is had to it ? It does 
not adjust with the merchant the amount of duty, nor take his bond ; 
nor, if the bond is not paid, coerce the payment by distress or otherwise. 
In fact, it has no active agency whatever in the collection. Its operation 
is merely passive ; that is, if the obligor, after his bond is placed in the 
bank, discharges it, all is very well. Such is the mighty aid afforded by 
this tax-gatherer, without which the government can not get along ! 
Again, it is not pretended that the very limited assistance which this in- 
stitution does in truth render, extends to any other than a single species 
of tax, that is, duties. In the collection of the excise, the direct and other 
internal taxes, no aid was derived from any bank. It is true, in the col- 
lection of those taxes, the former did not obtain the same indulgence 
which the merchant receives in paying duties. But what obliges Congress 
to give credit at all ? Could it not demand prompt payment of the duties ? 
And, in fact, does it not so demand in many instances ? Whether credit 
is given or not is a matter merely of discretion. If it be a facility to mer- 
cantile operations (as I presume it is) it ought to be granted. But I deny 
the right to engraft upon it a bank, which you would not otherwise have 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 29 

the power to erect. You can not create the necessity of a bank, and 
then plead that necessity for its establishment. In the administration of 
the finances, the bank acts simply as a payer and receiver. The Secretary 
of the Treasury has money in New York, and wants it in Charleston ; the 
bank will furnish him with a check or bill, to make the remittance, which 
any merchant would do just as well. 

I will now proceed to show by fact, actual experience, not theoretic 
reasoning but by the records of the treasury themselves, that the opera- 
tions of that department may be as well conducted without as with this 
bank. The delusion has consisted in the use of certain high-sounding 
phrases, dexterously used on the occasion ; " the collection of the revenue," 
"the administration of the finance," " the conducting of the fiscal affairs of 
the government," the usual language of the advocates of the bank, extort 
express assent, or awe into acquiescence, without inquiry or examination 
into its necessity. About the commencement of this year there appears, 
by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, of the Vth of January, 
to have been a little upward of two million and four hundred thousand 
dollars in the treasury of the United States ; and more than one third of 
this whole sum was in the vaults of local banks. In several instances, 
where opportunities existed of selecting the bank, a preference has been 
given to the State bank, or at least a portion of the deposits has been made 
with it. In New York, for example, there were deposited with the Man- 
hattan bank one hundred and eighty-eight thousand six hundred and 
seventy dollars, although a branch bank is in that city. In this District, 
one hundred and fifteen thousand and eighty dollars were deposited with 
the bank of Columbia, although here also is a branch bank, and yet the 
State banks are utterly unsafe to be trusted ! If the money, after the bonds 
are collected, is thus placed with t^ese banks, I presume there can be no 
difficulty in placing the bonds themselves there, if they must be deposited 
with some bank for collection, which I deny. 

Again, one of the most important and complicated branches of the 
treasury department, is the management of our landed system. The sales 
have, in some years, amounted to upward of half a million of dollars, and 
are generally made upon credit, and yet no bank whatever is made use of 
to facilitate the collection. After it is made, the amount, in some instances, 
has been deposited with banks, and, according to the Secretary's report, 
which I have before adverted to, the amount so deposited, was, in January, 
upward of three hundred thousand dollars, not one cent of which was in 
the vaults of the bank of the United States, or in any of its branches, but in 
the bank of Pennsylvania, its branch at Pittsburg, the Marietta bank, 
and the Kentucky bank. Upon the point of responsibility, I can not sub- 
scribe to the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, if it is meant that 
the ability to pay the amount of any deposits which the government may 
make, under any exigency, is greater than that of the State banks ; that 
the accountability of a ramified institution, whose affairs are managed 



30 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

by a single head, responsible for all its members, is more simple tban that 
of a number of independent and unconnected establishments, I shall not 
deny ; but, with regard to safety, I am strongly inclined to think it is on 
the side of the local banks. The corruption or misconduct of the parent, 
or any of its branches, may bankrupt or destroy the whole system, and 
the loss of the government in that event, will be of the deposits made 
with each ; whereas, in the failure of one State bank, the loss will be 
confined to the deposit in the vault of that bank. It is said to have been 
a part of Burr's plan to seize on the branch bank, at New Orleaus. At 
that period large sums, imported from La Vera Cruz, are alleged to have 
been deposited with it, and if the traitor had accomplished the design, the 
bank of the United States, if not actually bankrupt, might have been con- 
strained to stop payment. 

It is urged by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lloyd), that as 
this nation advances in commerce, wealth, and population, new energies 
will be unfolded, new wants and exigences will arise, and hence he infers 
that powers must be implied from the Constitution. But, sir, the question 
is, shall w r e stretch the instrument to embrace cases not fairly within its 
scope, or shall we resort to that remedy, by amendment, which the Consti- 
tution prescribes ? 

Gentlemen contend, that the construction which they give to the Con- 
stitution has been acquiesced in by all parties and under all administra- 
tions; and they rely particularly on an act which passed in 1804, for 
extending a branch to New Orleans ; and another act of 1807, for punish- 
ing those who should forge or utter forged paper of the bank. With 
regard to the first law, passed, no doubt, upon the recommendation of the 
treasury department, I would remark, that it was the extension of a branch 
to a territory over which Congress possesses the power of legislation almost 
uncontrolled, and where, without any constitutional impediment, charters 
of incorporation may be granted. As to the other act, it was passed no 
less for the benefit of the community than the bank ; to protect the ignor- 
ant and unwary from counterfeit paper, purporting to have been emitted by 
the bank. "When gentlemen are claiming the advantage supposed to 
be deducible from acquiescence, let me inquire what they would have had 
those to do who believed the establishment of a bank an encroachment 
upon State rights. Were they to have resisted, and how? By force? 
Upon the change of parties in 1800, it must be well recollected, that the 
greatest calamities were predicted as a consequence of that event. Inten- 
tions were ascribed to the new occupants of power, of violating the public 
faith, and prostrating national credit. Under such circumstances, that 
they should act with great circumspection was quite natural. They saw 
in full operation a bank, chartered by a Congress who had as much right 
to judge of their constitutional powers as their successors. Had they re- 
voked the law which gave it existence, the institution would, in all proba- 
bility, have continued to transact business notwithstanding. The judiciary 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 31 

would have been appealed to, and from the known opinions and predilec- 
tions of the judges then composing it, they would have pronounced the 
act of incorporation, as in the nature of a contract, beyond the repealing 
power of any succeeding Legislature. And, sir, what a scene of con- 
fusion would such a state of things have presented : an act of Congress, 
which was law in the statute-book, and a nullity on the judicial records ! 
was it not the wisest to wait the natural dissolution of the corporation 
rather than accelerate that event by a repealing law involving so many 
delicate considerations ? 

When gentlemen attempt to carry this measure upon the* ground of 
acquiescence or precedent, do they forget that we are not in Westminster 
Hall ? In courts of justice, the utility of uniform decision exacts of the 
judge a conformity to the adjudication of his predecessor. In the inter- 
pretation and administration of the law, this practice is wise and proper, 
and without it, every thing depending upon the caprice of the judge, we 
should have no security for our dearest rights. It is far otherwise when 
applied to the source of legislation. Here no rule exists but the Consti- 
tution, and to legislate upon the ground merely that our predecessors 
thought themselves authorized, under similar circumstances, to legislate, is 
to sanctify error and perpetuate usurpation. But if we are to be subjected 
to the trammels of precedent, I claim, on the other hand, the benefit of the 
restrictions under which the intelligent judge cautiously receives them. It 
is an established rule, that to give to a previous adjudication any effect, the 
mind of the judge who pronounced it must have been awakened to the 
subject, and it must have been a deliberate opinion formed after full ar- 
ffument. In technical lamma^e, it must not have been sub silcntio. Now 
the acts of 1804 and 1807, relied upon as pledges for the re-chartering of 
this company, passed not only without any discussions whatever of the 
constitutional power of Congress to establish a bank, but, I venture to 
say, without a single member having had his attention drawn to this ques- 
tion. I had the honor of a seat in the Senate when the latter law passed, 
probably voted for it, and I declare, with the utmost sincerity, that I never 
once thought of that point, and I appeal confidently to every honorable 
member who was then present, to say if that was not his situation. 

This doctrine of precedents, applied to the Legislature, appears to me 
to be fraught with the most mischievous consequences. The great ad- 
vantage of our system of government over all others, is, that we have a 
written Constitution defining its limits and prescribing its authorities ; and 
that however for a time faction may convulse the nation, and passion and 
party prejudice sway its functionaries, the season of reflection will recur 
when, calmly retracing their deeds, all aberrations from fundamental prin- 
ciple will be corrected. But once substitute practice for principle ; the 
exposition of the Constitution for the text of the Constitution, and in vain 
shall we look for the instrument in the instrument itself! It will be as 
diffused and intangible as the pretended Constitution of England ; and 



32 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

must be sought for in the statute-book, in the fugitive journals of Con- 
gress, and in the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury ! What would 
be our condition if we were to take the interpretations given to that 
sacred book, which is, or ought to be, the criterion of our faith, for the 
book itself? We should find the Holy Bible buried beneath the inter- 
pretations, glosses, and comments of council, synods, and learned divines, 
which have produced swarms of intolerant and furious sects, partaking less 
of the mildness and meekness of their origin than of a vindictive spirit 
of hostility toward each other ! They ought to afford us a solemn warn- 
ing to make that Constitution, which we have sworn to support, our in- 
variable guide. 

I conceive, then, sir, that we were not empowered by the Constitution, 
nor bound by any practice under it, to renew the charter of this bank, 
and I might here rest the argument. But as there are strong objections 
to the renewal on the score of expediency, and as the distresses which will 
attend the dissolution of the bank have been greatly exaggerated, I will 
ask for your indulgence for a few moments longer. That some temporary 
inconvenience will arise, I shall not deny ; but most groundlessly have the 
recent failures in New York been attributed to the discontinuance of this 
bank. As well might you ascribe to that cause the failures of Amsterdam 
and Hamburg, of London and Liverpool. The embarrassments of com- 
merce, the sequestrations in France, the Danish captures; in fine, the 
belligerent edicts, are the obvious sources of these failures. Their imme- 
diate cause is the return of bills upon London, drawn upon the faith of 
unproductive or unprofitable shipments. Yes, sir, the protest of the 
notaries of London, not those of New York, have occasioned these bank- 
ruptcies. 

The power of a nation is said to consist in the sword and the purse. 
Perhaps, at last, all power is resolvable into that of the purse, for with 
it you may command almost every thing else. The specie circulation of 
the United States is climated by some calculators at ten millions of dol- 
lars, and if it be no more, one moiety is in the vaults of this bank. May 
not the time arrive when the concentration of such a vast portion of the 
circulating medium of the country, in the hands of any corporation, will 
be dangerous to our liberties ? By whom is this immense power wielded ? 
By a body that, in derogation of the great principle of all our institutions, 
responsibility to the people, is amenable only to a few stockholders, and 
they chiefly foreigners. Suppose an attempt to subvert this government; 
would not the traitor first aim, by force or corruption, to acquire the treas- 
ure of this company ? Look at it in another aspect. Seven tenths of its 
capital are in the hands of foreigners, and these foreigners chiefly English 
subjects. We are possibly on the eve of a rupture with that nation. 
Should such an event occur, do you apprehend that the English premier 
would experience any difficulty in obtaining the entire control of this in- 
stitution ? Republics, above all other governments, ought most seriously 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 33 

to guard against foreign influence. All history proves that the internal 
dissensions excited by foreign intrigue have produced the downfall of al- 
most every free government that has hitherto existed ; and yet gentlemen 
contend that we are benefited by the possession of this foreign capital ! If 
we could have its use, without its attending abuse, I should be gratified 
also. But it is vain to expect the one without the other. Wealth is 
power, and, under whatsoever form it exists, its proprietor, whether he 
lives on this or the other side of the Atlantic, will have a proportionate in- 
fluence. It is argued that our possession of this English capital gives us 
a great influence over the British government. If this reasoning be 
sound, we had better revoke the interdiction as to aliens holding land, 
and invite foreigners to engross the whole property, real and personal, of 
the country. We had better at once exchange the condition of inde- 
pendent proprietors for that of stewards. We should then be able to gov- 
ern foreign nations, according to the reasoning of the gentlemen on the 
other side. But let us put aside this theory and appeal to the decisions 
of experience. Go to the other side of the Atlantic and see what has 
been achieved for us there, by Englishmen holding seven tenths of the 
capital of this bank. Has it released from galling and ignominious bond- 
age one solitary American seaman, bleeding under British oppression ? 
Did it prevent the unmanly attack upon the Chesapeake 1 } Did it arrest the 
promulgation, or has it abrogated the orders in council — those orders 
which have given birth to a new era in commerce ? In spite of all its 
boasted effect, are not the two nations brought to the very brink of war ? 
Are we quite sure that, on this side of the water, it has had no effect 
favorable to British interests ? It has often been stated, and although I do 
not know that it is susceptible of strict proof, I believe it to be a fact, 
that this bank exercised its influence in support of Jay's treaty ; and may 
it not have contributed to blunt the public sentiment, or paralyze the ef- 
forts of this nation against British aggression ? 

The Duke of Northumberland is said to be the most considerable 
stockholder in the bank of the United States. A late lord chancellor of 
England, besides other noblemen, was a large stockholder. Suppose the 
Prince of Essling, the Duke of Cadore, and other French dignitaries, 
owned seven eighths of the capital of this bank, should we witness the 
same exertions (I allude not to any made in the Senate) to re-charter it ? 
So far from it, would not the danger of French influence be resounded 
throughout the nation ? 

I shall therefore, give my most hearty assent to the motion for striking 
out the first section of the bill. 

3 



ON THE INCREASE OF MILITARY FORCE. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 31, 1811. 

[We now find Mr. Clay in the House of Eepresentatives, of 
which he was chosen Speaker by the first ballot ; and we find 
the country on the eve of a war with Great Britain, looking to 
Mr. Clay as the leader of the war party. Great as were the 
provocations to war, and inevitable as war seemed to be, there was, 
nevertheless, a strong and talented party against it, composed, 
chiefly of those designated by the name of Federalists. From 
the administration of John Adams down to this time, there was 
eminent talent in this party, and that must have been a strong 
administration which could stand up against such a powerful 
opposition, and stir up the nation to war. But the wrongs of 
Great Britain had roused the spirit of the American people. 
Mr. Clay, as will be seen, was, at this time, the popular leader of 
the Democratic party. He was never any other than a Demo- 
crat, from the beginning to the end of his career, though he be- 
came the head of a party which bore the name of Whig. It 
belongs to history to show that this party were the only true 
Democrats of the country. Mr. Clay never changed. His po- 
litical birth was in the Jeffersonian family, and he died a Jef- 
fersonian Democrat. In the following speech we find him 
enacting the part of the gallant chieftain of the Democratic 
ranks. The Jackson Democracy was mongrel, and like all 
broods of this category of races, it was doomed to degenerate, as 
it has done, till the last drop of Democratic blood has disap- 
peared. 

But here, in this speech of Mr. Clay, in which he began to 
rouse the nation to arms against Great Britain, we behold the 
unadulterated Democrat of the Madisonian era. By the advice 
of his political friends, Mr. Clay had left the Senate and gone 
into the House of Eepresentatives, because he was wanted as 
leader in the popular branch of the government, and the first 
speech we have on record from him in that place, is that which 



ON THE INCREASE OF MILITARY FORCE. 35 

follows. We need not say, for it will speak for itself, that it is 
manly, bold, and defiant, in presence of the British lion, which 
had roared and shaken his mane to intimidate the American 
people. It was in circumstances like these that Mr. Clay, in 
Committee of the Whole, opened this great and momentous 
debate, in support of a bill to augment the military force of the 
nation in preparation for war. Mr. Clay was now placed in the 
position which, of all men in the country, he was best qualified 
to fill ; and every body, the whole nation, felt that that was his 
place. On the eve of a war with the greatest maritime power 
in the world, the nation wanted a leader of recognized talent, of 
skill in affairs of state, of boldness and of prudence, of decision 
and of energy, and of lion-like courage — and Mr. Clay was that 
man.] 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole*) said, that when the subject 
of this bill was before the House in the abstract form of a resolution, 
proposed by the committee of foreign relations, it was the pleasure of the 
House to discuss it while he was in the chair. He did not complain of 
this course of proceeding, for be did not at any time wish the House, from 
considerations personal to him, to depart from that mode of transacting 
the public business which they thought best, He merely adverted to the 
circumstance as an apology for the trouble he was about to give the com- 
mittee. He was at all times disposed to take his share of the responsi- 
bility, and, under this impression, he felt that he owed it to his constitu- 
ents and to himself, before the committee rose, to submit to their attention 
a few observations. 

He saw with regret a diversity of opinion among those who had the 
happiness generally to act together, in relation to the quantum of force 
proposed to be raised. For his part, he thought it was too great for peace^ 
and he feared too small for war. He had been in favor of the number 
recommended by the Senate, and he would ask gentlemen, who had pre- 
ferred fifteen thousand, to take a candid and dispassionate view of the sub- 
ject. It was admitted, on all hands, that it was a force to be raised for 
the purposes of war, and to be kept up and used only in the event of war. 
It was further conceded, that its principal destination would be the prov- 
inces of our enemy. By the bill which had been passed, to complete the 
peace establishment, we had authorized the collection of a force of about 
six thousand men, exclusive of those now in service, which, with the 
twenty-five thousand provided for by this bill, will give an aggregate of new 

* We are not aware of any parliamentary rale that the Speaker of the House 
should not vacate the chair, by putting another member in it when he wishes to 
make a speech ; but custom seems to have conceded that the Speaker should avail 
himself of the Committee of the Whole for his own remarks. 



36 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

troops of thirty- one thousand men. Experience in military affairs has 
shown that, when any given number of men is authorized to be raised, 
you must, in counting upon the effective men which it will produce, de- 
duct one fourth or one third for desertion, sickness, and other incidents to 
which raw troops are peculiarly exposed. In measures relating to war, it 
is wisest, if you err at all, to err on the side of the largest force, and you 
will consequently put down your thirty-one thousand men at no more than 
an effective force, in the field, of about twenty-one thousand. This, with 
the four thousand now in service, will amount to twenty-five thousand ef- 
fective men. The Secretary of War has stated in his report that, for the 
single purpose of manning your forts and garrisons on the sea-board, 
twelve thousand and six hundred men are necessary. Although the whole 
of that number will not be taken from the twenty-five thousand, a portion 
of it, probably, will be. We are told that, in Canada, there are between 
seven and eight thousand regular troops. If it is invaded the whole of 
that force will be concentrated in Quebec, and would you attempt that al- 
most impregnable fortress with less than double the force of the besieged ? 
Gentlemen who calculate upon volunteers as a substitute for regulars 
ought not to deceive themselves. No man appreciated higher than he did 
the spirit of the country. But, although volunteers were admirably 
adapted to the first operations of the war, to the making of a first impres- 
sion, he doubted their fitness for a regular siege, or for the manning and 
garrisoning of forts. He understood it was a rule in military affairs, never 
to leave in the rear a place of any strength undefended. Canada is invaded ; 
the upper part falls, and you proceed to Quebec. It is true there would be 
no European army behind to be apprehended : but the people of the coun- 
try might rise ; and he warned gentlemen who imagined that the affections 
of the Canadians were with us against trusting too confidently on such a 
calculation, the basis of which was treason. He concluded, therefore, that 
a portion of the invading army would be distributed in the upper country, 
after its conquest, among the places susceptible of military strength and 
defense. The army, considerably reduced, sets itself down before Quebec. 
Suppose it falls. Here again will be required a number of men to hold 
and defend it. And if the war be prosecuted still further, and the lower 
country and Halifax be assailed, he conceived it obvious, that the whole 
force of twenty-five thousand men would not be too great. 

The difference between those who were for fifteen thousand, and those 
who were for twenty-five thousand men, appeared to him to resolve itself 
into the question, merely, of a short or protracted war ; a war of vigor, or 
a war of languor and imbecility. If a competent force be raised in the 
first instance, the war on the continent will be speedily terminated. He 
was aware that it might still rage on the ocean. But where the nation 
could act with unquestionable success, he was in favor of the display of an 
energy correspondent, to the feelings and spirit of the country. Suppose 
one third of the force he had mentioned (twenty-five thousand men) could 



ON THE INCREASE OF MILITARY FORCE. 37 

reduce the country, say in three years, and that the whole could accom- 
plish the same object in one year ; taking into view the great hazard of the 
repulsion and defeat of the small force, and every other consideration, do 
not wisdom and true economy equally decide in favor of the larger force, 
and thus prevent failure in consequence of inadequate means ? He begged 
gentlemen to recollect the immense extent of the United States ; our vast 
maritime frontier, vulnerable in almost all its parts to predatory incursions, 
and he was persuaded they would see that a regular force of twenty- 
five thousand men was not much too great during a period of war, if all 
designs of invading the provinces of the enemy were abandoned. 

Mr. Clay proceeded next to examine the nature of the force contem- 
plated by the bill. It was a regular army, enlisted for a limited time, 
raised for the sole purpose of war, and to be disbanded on the return of 
peace. Against this army all our republican jealousies and apprehensions 
-are attempted to be excited. He was not the advocate of standing armies ; 
but the standing armies which excite most his fears, are those which are 
kept up in time of peace. He confessed, he did not perceive any real 
source of clanger in a military force of twenty-five thousand men in the 
United States, provided only for a state of war, even supposing it to be 
corrupted, and its arms turned, by the ambition of its leaders, against the 
freedom of the country. He saw abundant security against the success of 
any such treasonable attempt. The diffusion of political information 
among the great body of the people constituted a powerful safeguard. 
The American character has been much abused by the Europeans, whose 
tourists, whether on hor^e on foot, in verse and prose, have united in de- 
preciating it. It is true that we do not exhibit as many signal instances 
of scientific acquirement in this country as are furnished in the old world ; 
but he believed it undeniable, that the great mass of the people possessed 
more intelligence than any other people on the globe. Such a people, con- 
sisting of upward of seven millions, affording a physical power of about a 
million of men capable of bearing arms, and ardently devoted to liberty, 
could not be subdued by an army of twenty-five thousand men. The wide 
extent of country over which we are spread was another security. In other 
countries, France and England for example, the fall of Paris or London is 
the fall of the nation. Here are no such dangerous aggregations of peo- 
ple. New York, and Philadelphia, and Boston, and every city on the 
Atlantic might be subdued by a usurper, and he would have made but a 
small advance in the accomplishment of his purpose. He would add a 
still more improbable supposition, that the country east of the Allegany, 
was to submit to the ambition of some daring chief, and he insisted that the 
liberty of the Union would be still unconquered. It would find success- 
ful support from the West, We are not only in the situation just de- 
scribed, but a great portion of the militia — nearly the whole, he understood, 
of that of Massachusetts — have arms in their hands; and he trusted in 
God that that great object would be persevered in, until every man in the 



« 



38 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

nation could proudly shoulder the musket which was to defend his coun- 
try and himself. A people having, besides the benefit of one general gov- 
ernment, other local governments in full operation, capable of exerting and 
commanding great portions of the physical power, all of which must be 
prostrated before our Constitution is subverted. Such a people have noth- 
ing to fear from a petty contemptible force of twenty-five thousand 

regulars. 

Mr. Clay proceeded, more particularly, to inquire into the object of the 
force. That object he understood distinctly to be war, and war with Great 
Britain. It had been supposed, by some gentlemen, improper to discuss 
publicly so delicate a question. He did not feel the impropriety. It was 
a subject in its nature incapable of concealment. Even in countries where 
the powers of government were conducted by a single ruler, it was almost im- 
posible for that ruler to conceal his intentions when he meditated war. The 
assembling of armies, the streuthenings of posts ; all the movements prepar- 
atory to war, and which it is impossible to disguise, unfolded the inten- 
tions of the sovereign. Does Russia or France intend war, the intention is 
almost invariably known before the war is commenced. If Congress were 
to pass a law, with closed doors, for raising an army for the purpose of 
war, its enlistment and organization, which could not be done in secret, 
would indicate the use to which it was to be applied ; and we can not sup- 
pose England would be so blind as not to see that she was aimed at. 
Nor could she, did she apprehend, injure us more by thus knowing our 
purposes, than if she were kept in ignorance of them. She may, indeed, 
anticipate us, and commence the war. But that is what she is in fact do- 
ing, and she can add but little to the injury which she is inflicting. If she 
choose to declare war in form, let her do so, the responsibility will be with her. 
What are we to gain by war ? has been emphatically asked. In reply, 
he would ask, what are we not to lose by peace ? Commerce, character, 
a nation's best treasure, honor ! If pecuniary considerations alone are to 
govern, there is sufficient motive for the war. Our revenue is reduced, by 
the operation of the belligerent edicts, to about six millions of dollars, ac- 
cording to the Secretary of the Treasury's report. The year preceding the 
embargo it was sixteen. Take away the orders in council, it will again 
mount up to sixteen millions. By continuing, therefore, in peace (if the 
mono-rel state in which we are deserve that denomination), we lose annually 
in revenue alone ten millions of dollars. Gentlemen will say, repeal the 
law of non-importation. He contended, that, if the United States were 
capable of that perfidy, the revenue would not be restored to its former state, 
the orders in council continuing. Without an export trade, winch those 
orders prevent, inevitable ruin would ensue, if we imported as freely as 
we did prior to the embargo. A nation that carries on an import trade, 
without an export trade to support it, must, in the end, be as certainly bank- 
rupt, as the individual, would be, who incurred an annual expenditure with- 
out au income. 



ON THE INCREASE OF MILITARY FORCE. 39 

He had no disposition to magnify or dwell upon the catalogue of 
injuries we had received from England. He could not, however, overlook 
the impressment of our seamen — an aggression upon which he never re- 
flected without feelings of indignation, which would not allow him appro- 
priate language to describe its enormity. Not content with seizing upon 
all our property which falls within her rapacious grasp, the personal rights 
of our countrymen — rights which forever ought to be sacred — are trampled 
upon and violated. The orders in council were pretended to have been 
reluctantly adopted, as a measure of retaliation. The French decrees, their 
alleged basis, are revoked. England resorts to the expedient of denying 
the fact of the revocation, and Sir William Scott, in the celebrated case of 
Fox and others, suspends judgment that proof may be adduced to it. At 
the same moment, when the British ministry, through that judge, is thus 
affecting to controvert that fact, and to place the release of our property 
upon its establishment, instructions are prepared for Mr. Foster, to meet at 
Washington the very revocation which they were contesting. And how 
does he meet it ? By fulfilling the engagement solemnly made to rescind 
the orders ? No, sir ; but demanding that we shall secure the introduc- 
tion, into the continent, of British manufactures ! 

Eno-land is said to be fi^litins: for the world, and shall we, it is asked, 
attempt to weaken her exertions? If, indeed, the aim of the French 
emperor be universal dominion (and he w r as willing to allow it to the argu- 
ment), how much nobler a cause is presented to British valor ! But how 
is her philanthropic purpose to be achieved ? By a scrupulous observance 
of the rights of others, by respecting that code of public law which she 
professes to vindicate, and by abstaining from self-aggrandizement. Then 
•would she command the sympathies of the world. What are we required 
to do by those who would engage our feelings and wishes in her behalf ? 
To bear the actual cuffs of her arrogance, that we may escape a chimerical 
French subjugation ! We are invited, conjured to drink the potion of 
British poison, actually presented to our lips, that we may avoid the 
imperial dose prepared by perturbed imaginations. We are called upon 
to submit to debasement, dishonor, and disgrace ; to bow the neck to 
roval insolence, as a course of preparation for manly resistance to Gallic 
invasion ! What nation, what individual, was ever taught, in the schools 
of ignominious submission, these patriotic lessons of freedom and inde- 
pendence ? Let those who contend for this humiliating doctrine, read its 
refutation in the history of the very man against whose insatiable thirst of 
.dominion we are warned. The experience of desolated Spain for the last 
fifteen years, is worth volumes. Did she find her repose and safety in sub- 
serviency to the will of that man ? Had she boldly stood forth and re- 
repelled the first attempt to dictate to her councils, her monarch would 
not be now a miserable captive in Marseilles. Let us come home to our 
own history ; it was not by submission that our fathers achieved our inde- 
pendence. The patriotic wisdom that placed you, Mr. Chairman, under 



40 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that canopy, penetrated the designs of a corrupt ministry, and nobly 
fronted encroachment on its first appearance. It saw, beyond the petty 
taxes with which it commenced, a long train of oppressive measures, ter- 
minating in the total annihilation of liberty, and, contemptible as they 
were, it did not hesitate to resist them. Take the experience of the last 
four or five years, which he was sorry to say exhibited, in appearance, at 
least, a different kiud of spirit. He did not wish to view the past, further 
than to guide us for the future. We were but yesterday contending for 
the indirect trade ; the right to export to Europe the coffee and sugar of 
the West ladies. To-day we are asserting our claim to the direct trade; 
the right to export our cotton, tobacco, and other domestic produce, to 
market. Yield this point, and to-morrow intercourse between New York 
and New Orleans, between the planters on James river and Richmond, 
will be interdicted. For, sir, the career of encroachment is never arrested 
by submission. It will advance while there remains a single privilege on 
which it can operate. Gentlemen say that this government is unfit for 
any war but a war of invasion. What, is it not equivalent to iuvasion, if 
the mouths of our harbors and outlets are blocked up, and we are denied 
egress from our own waters ? Or, when the burglar is at our door, shall 
we bravely sally forth and repel his felonious entrance, or meanly skulk 
within the cells of the castle ? 

He contended, that the real cause of British aggression was, not to dis- 
tress an enemy, but to destroy a rival. A comparative view of our com- 
merce with that of England and the continent, would satisfy any one of 
the truth of this remark. Prior to the embargo, the balance of trade 
between this country and England was between eleven and fifteen mil- 
lions of dollars in favor of England. Our consumption of her manufactures 
was annually increasing, and had risen to nearly fifty millions of dollars. 
We exported to her what she most wanted, provisions and raw materials 
for her manufactures, and received in return what she was most desirous 
to sell. Our exports to France, Holland, Spain, and Italy, taking an ave- 
rage of the years 1802, 1803, and 1804, amounted to about twelve million 
dollars of domestic, and about eighteen million dollars of foreign produce. 
Our imports from the same countries amounted to about twenty-five mil- 
lion dollars. The foreign produce exported, consisted chiefly of luxuries, 
from the West Indies. It is apparent that this trade, the balance of which 
was in favor, not of France, but of the United States, was not of very vital 
consequence to the enemy of England. Would she, therefore, for the 
sole purpose of depriving her adversary of this commerce, relinquish her 
valuable trade with this country, exhibiting the essential balance in her 
favor; nay, more, hazard the peace of the country? No, sir; you must 
look for an explanation of her conduct in the jealousies of a rival. She 
sickens at your prosperity, and beholds, in your growth— your sails spread 
on every ocean, and your numerous seamen — the foundations of a power 
which, at no very distant day, is to make her tremble for her naval supe- 



ON THE INCREASE OF MILITARY FORCE. 41 

riority. He had omitted before to notice the loss of our seamen, if wo 
continued in our present situation. What would become of the one hun- 
dred thousand (for he understood there was about that number) in the 
American service ? Would they not leave us and seek employment abroad, 
perhaps in the very country that injures us ? 

It is said, that the effect of the war at home, will be a change of those 
who administer the government, who will be replaced by others that will 
make a disgraceful peace. He did not believe it. Not a man in the na- 
tion could really doubt the sincerity with which those in power have 
sought, by all honorable aud pacific means, to protect the interests of the 
country. When the people saw exercised toward both belligerents the 
utmost impartiality ; wituessed the same equal terms tendered to both ; and 
beheld the government successively embracing an accommodation with 
each, in exactly the same spirit of amity, he was fully persuaded, now that 
war was the only alternative left to us, by the injustice of one of the 
powers, that the support and confidence of the people would remain un- 
diminished. He was one, however, who was prepared (and he would not 
believe that he was more so than any other member of the committee) to 
march on in the road of his duty, at all hazards. What ! shall it be said, 
that our amor patrice is located at these desks ; that we pusillanimously 
cling to our seats here, rather than boldly vindicate the most inestimable 
rights of the countiy ? While the heroic Daviess, and his gallant asso- 
ciates, exposed to all the dangers of treacherous savage warfare, are sacri- 
ficing themselves for the good of their country, shall we shrink from our 
duty? 

He concluded, by hoping that his remarks had tended to prove that the 
quantum of the force required was not too great, that in its nature it was 
free from the objections urged against it, aud that the object of its appli- 
cation was one imperiously called for by the present peculiar crisis. 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 22, 1812. 

[Mr. Jefferson's gun-boat system was a fair subject of ridi- 
cule, and it was laughed out of existence. Nevertheless, this 
species of economy ran on for many years, and our navy was at a 
low ebb at the accession of Mr. Madison to the presidential 
chair. The United States were about to engage in war with a 
nation that floated the most formidable navy in the world, with- 
out any marine craft that would dare to leave our harbors and 
look the enemy in the face. The whole line of our seaboard, 
and our cities planted here and there upon it, would be exposed 
to the descent of British naval armaments. And yet, a proposal 
to build ten frigates was resisted by those in Congress who still 
adhered to the Jcffersonian policy. Mr. Clay, who a month pre- 
viously had so eloquently advocated the augmentation of the 
military force, and carried the measure, was now called upon to 
deliver one of his broadsides in behalf of the navy. Ten frigates 
to be put upon the stocks at once, and launched and armed with 
the greatest possible expedition, was an unheard-of bound of 
public policy. It was a daring and startling measure, and no 
man but Mr. Clay could overcome the difficulties which it had 
to encounter. We are not to judge of these difficulties by the 
facility of voting appropriations for the navy, since the navy has 
become the pride of the nation, and that, too, in consequence of 
the brilliant achievements of those very ships which were built 
in 1812. Mr. Clay saw, by his intuitive perceptions, what was 
necessary ; but it was no easy task to make Congress see as he 
saw it. It was necessary that he should so transfer his own 
views to the mind of that body, that they should produce con- 
viction there, and be immediately carried into action. Such was 
the task, and such the triumphant result. The frigates were 
built, and the history of the war of 1812 will show what they 
achieved. From that time the navy became and has remained, 
without any abatenient, but with a constant 'increase of affection, 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 43 

the pet arm of the public service. No nation in the world is so 
well served by an equal number of ships of the same class ; and 
such is the fame of our navy, that no nation would dare to en- 
counter it, with an equal force, ship for ship, and of the same 

rate. 

If we look for the causes of effects, we may, perhaps, find, in 
the following speech, the cause of this glory of our navy. True, 
Mr. Clay had his coadjutors ; but the dominant party then in 
Congress, were dead against this project when it was first pro- 
posed. They were startled by it as extravagant. But Mr. Clay 
was the recognized leader of that party, and they did not dare 
to vote against him. Probably they followed their own personal 
convictions, after they had heard him. This speech, therefore, 
may be regarded as occupying a momentously important place 
in the history of the country, and it should be read with pro- 
found interest on that account.] 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole), rose to present his views on 
the bill before the committee. He said, as he did not precisely agree in 
opinion with any gentleman who had spoken, he should take the liberty 
of detaining the committee a few moments, while he offered to their at- 
tention some observations. He was highly gratified with the temper and 
ability with which the discussion had hitherto been conducted. It was 
honorable to the House, and, he trusted, would continue to be manifested 
on many future occasions. 

On this interesting topic a diversity of ojjinion has existed almost ever 
since the adoption of the present government. On the one hand, there 
appeared to him to have been attempts made to precipitate the nation into 
all the evils of naval extravagance, which had been productive of so much 
mischief in other countries ; and, on the other, strongly feeling this mis- 
chief, there has existed an unreasonable prejudice against providing such 
a competent naval protection, for our commercial and maritime rights, as 
is demanded by their importance, and as the increased resources of the 
country amply justify. 

The attention of Congress has been invited to this subject by the 
president, in his message delivered at the opening of the session. Indeed, 
had it been wholly neglected by the chief magistrate, from the critical 
situation of the country, and the nature of the rights proposed to be vin- 
dicated, it must have pressed itself upon our attention. But, said Mr. 
Clay, the president, in his message, observes: "your attention will, of 
course, be drawn to such provisions on the subject of our naval force as 
may be required for the service to which it is best adapted. I submit to 
Congress the seasonableness also of an authority to augment the stock of 
such materials as are imperishable in their nature, or may not at once be 



44 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

attainable." The president, by this recommendation, clearly intimates an 
opinion that the naval force of this country is capable of producing effect; 
and the propriety of laying up imperishable materials was, no doubt, sug- 
gested for the purpose of making additions to the navy as convenience and 
exigences might direct. 

It appeared to Mr. Clay a little extraordinary that so much, as it seemed 
to him, unreasonable jealousy should exist against the naval establishment. 
If, said he, we look back to the period of the formation of the Constitution, 
it will be found that no such jealousy was then excited. In placing the 
physical force of the nation at the disposal of Congress, the Convention 
manifested much greater apprehension of abuse in the power given to raise 
armies than in that to provide a navy. In reference to the navy Congress 
is put under no restrictions; but with respect to the army, that description 
of force which has been so often employed to subvert the liberties of man- 
kind, they are subjected to limitations designed to prevent the abuse of 
this dangerous power. But it was not his intention to detain the com- 
mit ice by a discussion on the comparative utility and safety of these two 
kinds i f force. He would, however, be indulged in saying that he thought 
gentlemen had wholly failed in maintaining the position they had assumed, 
that the fail of maritime powers was attributable to their navies. They 
have told you, indeed, that Carthage, Genoa, Venice, and other nations 
had navies, and, notwithstanding, were finally destroyed. But have they 
shown, by a train of argument, that their overthrow was, in any degree, at- 
tributable to their maritime greatness? Have they attempted even to 
show that there exists in the nature of this power a necessary tendency to 
destroy the nation using it 1 Assertion is substituted for argument ; in- 
ferences not authorized by historical facts are arbitrarily drawn ; things 
wholly unconnected with each other ai*e associated together ; a very log- 
ical mole of reasoning it must be admitted ! In the same way he could 
demonstrate how idle and absurd our attachments are to freedom itself. 
He might say, for example, that Greece and Rome had forms of free gov- 
ernment, and that they no longer exist ; and, deducing their fall from their 
devotion to liberty, the conclusion in favor of despotism would very satis- 
factory follow! He demanded what there is in the nature and con- 
struction of maritime power to excite the fears that have been indulged? 
Do gentlemen really apprehend that a body of seamen will abandon their 
proper element, and, placing themselves under an aspiring chief, will erect 
a throne to his ambition ? Will they deign to listen to the voice of his- 
tory, and learn how chimerical are their apprehensions? 

But the source of alarm is in ourselves. Gentlemen fear that if we 
provide a marine it will produce collis r o;is with foreign nations; plunge us 
into war, and ultimately overturn the Constitution of the country. Sir, if 
you wish to avoid foreign collision you had better abandon the ocean 
surrender all your commerce ; give up all your prosperity. It is the thing 
protected, not the instrument of protection that involves you in war. 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 45 

Commerce engenders collision, collision war, and war, the argument, sup- 
poses, leads to despotism. Would the counsels of that statesman be 
deemed wise who would recommend that the nation should be unarmed ; 
that the art of war, the martial spirit, and martial exercises should be ] pro- 
hibited ; who should declare in the language of Othello, that the nation 
must bid farewell to the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, the spirit- 
stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, and all the pride, pomp, and circum- 
stance of glorious war ; and that the great body of the people should be 
taught that national happiness was to be found in perpetual peace alone ? 
No, sir. Aud yet every argument in favor of a power of protection on 
land applies, in some degree, to a power of protection on the sea. Un- 
doubtedly a commerce void of naval protection is more exposed to rapac- 
ity than a guarded commerce ; and if we wish to invite the continuance 
of the old, or the enactment of the new edicts, let us refrain from all ex- 
ertion upon that element where they must operate, and where, in the end, 
they must be resisted. 

For his part (Mr. Clay said) he did not allow himself to be alarmed 
by those apprehensions of maritime power which appeared to agitate 
other gentlemen. In the nature of our government he beheld abundant 
security against abuse. He would be unwilling to tax the land to support 
the rights of the sea, and was for drawing from the sea itself the resources 
with which its violated freedom should, at all times, be vindicated. 
While this principle is adhered to there will be no danger of running into 
the folly and extravagance which so much alarms gentlemen ; and when- 
ever it is abandoned — whenever Congress shall lay burdensome taxes to 
augment the navy beyond what may be authorized by the increased 
wealth, and demanded by the exigences of the country, the people will in- 
terpose, and, removing their unworthy representatives, apply the appro- 
priate corrective. Mr. Clay, then, could not see any just ground of dread 
in the nature of naval power. It was, on the contrary, free from the evils 
attendant upon standing armies. And the genius of our institutions— 
the great representative principle, in the practical enjoyment of which we 
are so eminently distinguished — afforded the best guaranty against the 
ambition and wasteful extravagance of government. What maritime 
strength is it expedient to provide for the United States ? In considering 
this subject three different degrees of naval power present themselves. 
In the first place, such a force as would be capable of contending with 
that which any other nation is able to bring on the ocean — a force that, 
boldly scouring every sea, would challenge to combat the fleets of other 
powers, however great. He admitted that it was impossible at this time, 
perhaps it never would be desirable, for this country to establish so ex- 
tensive a navy. Indeed, he should consider it as madness in the extreme 
in this government to attempt to provide a navy able to cope with the 
fleets of Great Britain, wherever they might be met. 

The next species of naval power to which he would advert, is that which. 



46 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

without adventuring into distant seas, and keeping generally in our own 
harbors, and on our coasts, would be competent to beat oft' any squadron 
which might be attempted to be permanently stationed in our waters. His 
friends from South Carolina (Messrs. Cheves and Lowndes) had satisfac- 
torily shown, that, to effect this object, a force equivalent only to one third 
of that which the maintenance of such a squadron must require, would be 
sufficient ; that if, for example, England should determine to station per- 
manently upon our coast a squadron of twelve ships of the fine, it would 
require for this service thirty-six ships of the line ; one third in port, re- 
pairing, one third on the passage, and one third on the station. But that 
is a force which it has been shown that even England, with her boasted 
navy, could not spare for the American service, while she is engaged in 
the present contest. Mr. Clay said that he was desirous of seeing such a 
force as he had described ; that is, twelve ships of the line and fifteen or 
twenty frigates, provided for the United States ; but he admitted that it 
was unattainable in the present situation of the finances of the country. 
He contended, however, that it was such as Congress ought to set about 
providing ; and he hoped, in less than ten years, to see it actually estab- 
lished. He was far from surveying the vast maritime power of Great 
Britain with the desponding eye with which other gentlemen beheld it. 
He could not allow himself to be discouraged at a prospect of even her 
thousand ships. This country only required resolution, and a proper ex- 
ertion of its immense resources, to command respect, and to vindicate 
every essential right. When we consider our remoteness from Europe, the 
expense, difficulty, and perils, to which any squadron would be exposed, 
while stationed off our coasts, he entertained no doubt that the force to 
which he referred, would insure the command of our own seas. Such a 
force would avail itself of our extensive sea-board and numerous harbors, 
everywhere affording asylums to which it could safely retire from a su- 
perior fleet, or from which it could issue, for the purpose of annoyance. 
To the opinion of his colleague (Mr. McKee) who appeared to think that 
it was in vain for us to make any struggle on the ocean, he would oppose 
the sentiments of his distinguished connection, the heroic Daviess, who 
fell in the battle of Tippecanoe. 

The third description of force, worthy of consideration, is, that which 
would be able to prevent any single vessel, of whatever metal, from en- 
dangering our whole coasting trade, blocking up our harbors, and laying 
under contribution our cities — a force competent to punish the insolence 
of the commander of any single ship, and to preserve in our own jurisdic- 
tion the inviolability of our peace and our laws. A force of this kind is 
entirely within the compass of our means, at this time. Is there a reflect- 
ing man in the nation, who would not charge Congress with a culpable 
neglect of its duty, if, for the want of such a force, a single ship were to 
bombard one of our cities ? Would not every honorable member of the 
committee inflict on himself the bitterest reproaches, if, by failing to make 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 47 

an inconsiderable addition to our little gallant, navy, a single British vessel 
should place New York under contribution ? Yes, sir, when the city is in 
flames, its wretched inhabitants begin to repent of their neglect, in not 
providing engines and water-buckets. If, said Mr. Clay, we are not able 
to meet the wolves of the forest, shall we put up with the barking impu- 
dence of every petty cur that trips across our way ? Because we can not 
guard against every possible danger, shall we provide against none ? He 
hoped not. He had hardly expected that the instructing but humiliating 
lesson was so soon to be forgotten, which was taught us in the murder of 
Pierce, the attack on the Chesapeake, and the insult offered in the very 
harbor of Charleston, which the brave old fellow who commanded the fort 
in vain endeavored to chastise. It was a rule with Mr. Clay, when acting 
either in a public or private character, to attempt nothing more than what 
there existed a prospect of accomplishing. He was therefore not in favor 
of entering into any mad projects on this subject, but for deliberately and 
resolutely pursuing what he believed to be within the power of govern- 
ment. Gentlemen refer to the period of 1798, and we are reminded of 
the principles maintained by the opposition at that time. He had no 
doubt of the correctness of that opposition. The naval schemes of that 
day were premature, not warranted by the resources of the country, and 
were contemplated for an unnecessary war, into which the nation was 
about to be plunged. He always admired and approved the zeal and 
ability with which that opposition was conducted, by the distinguished 
gentleman now at the head of the treasury. But the state of things is 
totally altered. What was folly in 1798, may be wisdom now. At that 
time, we had a revenue only of about six millions. Our revenue now, 
upon a supposition that commerce is restored, is about sixteen millions. 
The population of the country, too, is greatly increased, nearly doubled, 
and the wealth of the nation is perhaps tripled. "While our ability to 
construct a navy is thus enhanced, the necessary maritime protection is 
proportionably augmented. Independent of the extension of our com- 
merce, since the year 1798, we have had an addition of more than five 
hundred miles to our coast, from the bay of Perdido to the mouth 
of the Sabiue — a weak and defenseless accession, requiring, more than any 
other part of our maritime frontier, the protecting arm of government. 

The groundless imputation, that those who were friendly to a navy, 
were espousing a principle inimical to freedom, should not terrify him. 
He was not ashamed when in such company as the illustrious author of 
the Notes on Virginia, whose opinion on the subject of a navy, contained 
in that work, contributed to the formation of his own. But the principle 
of a navy, Mr. Clay contended, was no longer open to controversy. It 
was decided when Mr. Jefferson came into power. With all the prejudices 
against a navy, which are alleged by some to have been then brought into 
the administration, with many honest prejudices, he admitted, the rash 
attempt was not made to destroy the establishment. It was reduced to 



48 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

only Avhat was supposed to be within the financial capacity of the country. 
If, ten years ago, when all those prejudices were to be combatted, even in 
time of peace, it was deemed proper, by the then administration, to retain 
in service ten frigates, he put it to the candor of gentlemen to say, if now, 
when we are on the eve of a war, and taking into view the actual growth 
of the country, and the acquisition of our coast on the Gulf of Mexico, 
we ought not to add to the establishment. 

Mr. Clay said, he had hitherto alluded more particularly to the exposed 
situation of certain parts of the Atlantic frontier. While he felt the deep- 
est solicitude for the safety of New York, and other cities on the coast, 
he would be pardoned by the committee, for referring to the interests of 
that section of the Union from which he came. If, said he, there be a 
point more than any other in the United States, demanding the aid of 
naval protection, that point is the mouth of the Mississippi. What is the 
population of the western country, dependent on this single outlet for its 
surplus productions? Kentucky, according to the last enumeration, has 
four hundred and six thousand five hundred and eleven ; Tennessee, two 
hundred and sixty-one thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven ; and 
Ohio, two hundred and thirty thousand seven hundred and sixty. And 
when the population of the western parts of Virginia, and Pennsylvania, 
and the territories which are drained by the Mississippi or its waters, is 
added, it will form an aggregate equal to about one fifth of the whole pop- 
ulation of the United States, resting all their commercial hopes upon 
this solitary vent. The bulky articles of which their surplus productions 
consist, can be transported in no other way. They will not bear the ex- 
pense of a carriage up the Ohio and Tennessee, and across the mountains, 
and the circuitous voyage of the lakes is out of the question. While 
most other States have the option of numerous outlets, so that, if one be 
closed, resort can be had to others, this vast population has no alternative. 
Close the mouth of the Mississippi, and their export trade is annihilated. 
He called the attention of his western friends, especially his worthy 
Kentucky friends (from whom he felt himself, with regret, constrained to 
differ on this occasion), to the state of the public feeling in that quarter, 
while the navigation of the Mississippi was withheld by Spain; and to the 
still more recent period, when the right of dep6t was violated. The whole 
country was in commotion, and, at the nod of government, would have 
fallen on Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and punished the treachery of a 
perfidious government. Abandon all idea of protecting, by maritime force, 
the mouth of the Mississippi, and we shall have the recurrence of many 
similar scenes. We shall hold the inestimable right of the navigation of 
that river, by the most precarious tenure. The whole commerce of the 
Mississippi — a commerce that is destined to be the richest that was ever 
borne by a single stream — is placed at the mercy of a single ship, lying 
off the Balize ! Again ; the convulsions of the new world, still more, per- 
haps, than those of Europe, challenge our attention. Whether the ancient 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 49 

dynasty of Spain is still to be upheld or subverted, is extremely uncertain, 
if the bonds connecting the parent-country with her colonies, are not for 
ever broken. What is to become of Cuba ? Will it assert independence, 
or remain the province of some European power ? In either case, the 
whole trade of the western country, which must pass almost within gun- 
shot of the Moro Castle, is exposed to danger. It was not, however, of 
Cuba he was afraid. He wished her independent. But suppose England 
gets possession of that valuable island. With Cuba on the south, and 
Halifax on the north — and the consequent means of favoring or annoying 
commerce, of particular sections of the country — he asked, if the most 
sanguine among us would not tremble for the integrity of the Union ? 
If, along with Cuba, Great Britain should acquire East Florida, she will 
have the absolute command of the Gulf of Mexico. Can gentlemen, par- 
ticularly gentlemen from the western country, contemplate such possible, 
nay, probable, events, without desiring to see at least the commencement 
of such a naval establishment as would effectually protect the Mississippi ? 
He entreated them to turn their attention to the defenseless situation of the 
Orleans Territory, and to the nature of its population. It is known, that, 
while under the Spanish government, they experienced the benefit of naval 
security. Satisfy them, that, under the government of the United States, 
they will enjoy less protection, and you disclose the most fatal secret. 

The general government receives annually, for the public lands, about 
six hundred thousand dollars. One of the sources whence the western 
people raise this sum, is the exportation of the surplus productions of that 
country. Shut up the Mississippi, and this source is, in a great measure, 
dried up. But suppose this government to look upon the occlusion of the 
Mississippi, without making an effort on that element, where alone it could 
be made successfully, to remove the blockading force, and, at the same time, 
to be vigorously pressing payment for the public lands ; he shuddered at the 
consequences. Deep-rooted as he knew the affections of the western peo- 
ple to be to the Union (and he would not admit their patriotism to be sur- 
passed by any other quarter of the country), if such a state of things were 
to last any considerable time, he should seriously apprehend a withdrawal 
of their confidence. Nor, sir, could we dreive any apology for the failure 
to afford this protection, from the want of the materials for naval archi- 
tecture. On the contrary, all the articles entering into the construction 
of a navy — iron, hemp, timber, pitch — abound in the greatest quantities 
on the waters of the Mississippi. Kentucky alone, he had no doubt, 
raised hemp enough the last year for the whole consumption of the United 
States. 

If, as he conceived, gentlemen had been unsuccessful in showing that 
the downfall of maritime nations was ascribable to their navies, they have 
been more fortunate in showing, by the instances to which they had re- 
ferred, that, without a marine, no foreign commerce could exist to any ex- 
tent. It is the appropriate, the natural (if the term may be allowed) 

4 



50 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

connection of foreign commerce. The shepherd and his faithful dog are 
not more necessary to guard the flocks that browse and gambol on the 
neighboring mountain. He considered the prosperity of foreign commerce 
indissolubly allied to marine power. Neglect to provide the one and you 
must abandon the other. Suppose the expected war with England is com- 
menced, you enter and subjugate Canada, and she still refuses to do you 
justice ; what other possible mode will remain to operate on the enemy, 
but upon that element where alone you can then come in contact with 
him ? And if you do not prepare to protect there your own commerce, 
and to assail his, will he not sweep from the ocean every vessel bearing 
your flag, and destroy even the coasting trade ? But, from the arguments 
of gentlemen, it would seem to be questioned if foreign commerce is worth 
the kind of protection insisted upon. What is this foreign commerce 
that has suddenly become so inconsiderable ? It has, with very trifling aid 
from other sources, defrayed the expenses of government ever since the 
adoption of the present Constitution ; maintained an expensive and suc- 
cessful war with the Indians ; a war with the Barbary powers ; a quasi 
war with France ; sustained the charges of suppressing two insurrections, 
and extinguishing upward of forty-six millions of the public debt. In 
revenue it has, since the year 1789, yielded one hundred and ninety-one 
millions of dollars. During the first four years after the commencement 
of the present government the revenue averaged only about two millions 
annually ; during a subsequent period of four years it rose to an average 
of fifteen millions, annually, or became equivalent to a capital of two 
hundred and fifty millions of dollars, at an interest of six per centum 
per annum. And if our commerce is re-established, it will, in the course 
of time, net a sum for which we are scarcely furnished with figures in 
arithmetic. Taking the average of the last nine years (comprehending 
of course the season of the embargo), our exports average upward of thirty- 
seven millions of dollars, which is equivalent to a capital of more than six 
hundred millions of dollars, at six per centum interest ; all of which must 
be lost in the event of a destruction of foreign commerce. In the aban- 
donment of that commerce is also involved the sacrifice of our brave tars, 
who have engaged in the pursuit from which they derive subsistence and 
support, under the confidence that government would afford them that just 
protection which is due to all. They will be driven into foreign employ- 
ment, for it is vain to expect that they will renounce their habits of life. 

The spirit of commercial enterprise, so strongly depicted by the gentle- 
man from New York (Mr. Mitchell) is diffused throughout the country. 
It is a passion as unconquerable as any with which nature has endowed 
tis. You may attempt, indeed, to regulate, but you can not destroy it. 
It exhibits itself as well on the waters of the western country as on the 
waters and shores of the Atlantic. Mr. Clay had heard of a vessel, built 
at Pittsburg, having crossed the Atlantic and entered a European port 
(he believed that of Leghorn). The master of the vessel laid his papers 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 51 

before the proper custom-house officer, which of course stated the place of 
her departure. The officer boldly denied the existence of any such Amer- 
ican port as Pittsburg, and threatened a seizure of the vessel as being 
furnished with forged papers. The affrighted master procured a map of 
the United States, and, pointing out the Gulf of Mexico, took the officer to 
the mouth of the Mississippi, traced the course of the Mississippi more 
than a thousand miles, to the mouth of the Ohio, and conducting him still 
a thousand miles higher, to the junction of the Alleghany and Mononga- 
heia. — there, he exclaimed, stands Pittsburg, the port from which I sailed ! 
The custom-house officer, prior to the production of this evidence, would 
have as soon believed that the vessel had performed a voyage from the moon. 
In delivering the sentiments he had expressed, Mr. Clay considered him- 
self as conforming to a sacred constitutional duty. When the power to 
provide a navy was confided to Congress, it must have been the intention 
of the Convention to submit only to the discretion of that body the period 
when that power should be exercised. That period had, in his opinion, 
arrived, at least for making a respectable beginning. And while he thus 
discharo-ed what he conceived to be his duty, he derived great pleasure 
from the reflection that he was supporting a measure calculated to impart 
additional strength to our happy Union. Diversified as are the interests of 
its various parts, how admirably do they harmonize and blend together ! 
We have only to make a proper use of the bounties spread before us to 
render us prosperous and powerful. Such a navy as he had contended 
for, will form a new bond of connection between the States, concentrating 
their hopes, their interests, and their affections. 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 8, 1813. 

[The war has commenced, and is now nearly eight months in 
progress. Our little navy, even against immense odds, by skill- 
ful maneuvering, and hard fighting, has covered itself with glory. 
But with few exceptions, enumerated by Mr. Clay in the follow- 
ing speech, the army has met with a series of mortifying dis- 
asters. Our attempts to take Canada have proved a failure. 
The army has been defeated and demoralized, and the country 
overshadowed with gloom. The administration is assailed T vith 
reproach by the opposition. The Hartford Convention has been 
in session, and disunion is threatened. 

Under these circumstances, Congress assembled in December, 
1812. On the 30th of August, General Harrison wrote to Mr. 
Clay, " In my opinion, your presence on the frontier of this State 
(Ohio) would' be productive of great advantages. I can assure 
you, that your advice and assistance in determining the course 
of operations for the army (to the command of which I have 
been designated by your recommendation) will be highly useful. 
You are not only pledged in some manner for my conduct, but 
for the success of the war. For God's sake, then, come on to 
Piqua as quickly as possible, and let us endeavor to throw off 
from the administration that weight of reproach which the late 
disasters will heap upon them." Mr. Clay, however, could not 
go, his presence being required at Washington. This call of 
General Harrison, and the reasons assigned for it, would seem to 
justify Mr. Madison in the offer he made to Mr. Clay at this 
time, to give him the command of the army. But Mr. Clay 
could not be spared from his leadership in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. It is known, that Mr. Clay not only counseled war 
before it commenced, but that he had to screw up the courage 
of Mr. Madison and his Cabinet, while they hesitated. He, too, 
blew the same trumpet on the floor of Congress. On him, there- 
fore, rested, in no slight degree, the responsibility of the war. 



ON THE NEW AKMY BILL. 53 

After the disasters on the frontier, and in Canada, there was no 
choice left but an increase of the array ; and soon after the 
meeting of Congress, a bill was brought in to raise twenty ad- 
ditional regiments. It was during the pending of this bill that 
the following speech was delivered ; and, as will be seen, Mr. 
Clay's chief attention was directed to the opponents of the war, 
who had embraced the opportunity of these misfortunes to fall 
upon the administration with the utmost virulence. It devolved 
on Mr. Clay to answer them. If we consider the position of the 
country, and the position of Mr. Clay himself, it can hardly be 
denied that he displayed on this occasion the greatest vigor of 
his character. He had two single aims, one to silence the oppo- 
sition, and the other to reanimate the country for a vigorous 
prosecution of the war to an honorable peace. Canada was the 
vulnerable point of the enemy, and Canada must be taken — 
though it never was taken. With the exception of the defense 
of New Orleans, by General Jackson, on the 8th of January, 
1815, our naval victories on the lakes and on the ocean, were the 
most brilliant achievements of the war.] 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole) said he was gratified yesterday 
by the recommitment of this bill to a committee of the whole House, from 
two considerations : one, since it afforded him a slight relaxation from a 
most fatiguing situation ; and the other, because it furnished him with an 
opportunity of presenting to the committee his sentiments upon the im- 
portant topics which had been mingled in the debate. He regretted, how- 
ever, that the necessity under which the chairman had been placed, of 
putting the question, precluded the opportunity he had wished to enjoy, of 
rendering more acceptable to the committee any thing he might have to 
offer on the interesting points on which it was his duty to touch. Un- 
prepared, however, as he was to speak on this day, of which he was the 
more sensible from the ill state of his health, he would solicit the attention 
of the committee for a few moments. 

I was a little astonished, I confess, said Mr. Clay, when I found this bill 
permitted to pass silently through the Committee of the Whole, and not 
selected until the moment when the question was to be put for its third 
reading, as the subject on which gentlemen in the opposition chose to lay 
before the House their views of the interesting attitude in which the nation 
stands. It did appear to me that the loan bill, which will soon come 
before us, would have afforded a much more proper occasion, it being 
more essential, as providing the ways and means for the prosecution of the 
war. But the gentlemen had the right of selection, and having exercised 
it, no matter how improperly, I am gratified, whatever I may think of the 



54 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

character of some part of the debate, at the latitude in which, for once, 
they have been indulged. I claim only, in return, of gentlemen on the 
other side of the House, and of the committee, a like indulgence in ex- 
pressing my sentiments with the same unrestrained freedom. Perhaps, in 
the course of the remarks which I feel myself called upon to make, gentlemen 
may apprehend that they assume too harsh an aspect ; but I have only now 
to say that I shall speak of parties, measures, and things, as they strike my 
moral sense, protesting against the imputation of any intention on my part 
to wound the feelings of any gentleman. 

Considering the situation in which tins country is now placed — a state 
of actual war with one of the most powerful nations on the earth — it may 
not be useless to take a view of the past, and of the various parties which 
have at different times appeared in this country, and to attend to the man- 
ner by which we have been driven from a peaceful posture to our present 
warlike attitude. Such an inquiry may assist in guiding us to that result, 
an honorable peace, which must be the sincere desire of every friend to 
America. The course of that opposition, by which the administration of 
the government had been unremittingly impeded for the last twelve years, 
was singular, and, I believe, unexampled in the history of any country. 
It has been alike the duty and the interest of the administration to pre- 
serve peace. It was their duty, because it is necessary to the growth of 
an infant people, to their genius, and to their habits. It was their interest, 
because a change of the condition of the nation brings along with it a 
danger of the loss of the affections of the people. The administration has 
not been forgetful of these solemn obligations. No art has been left un- 
essayed, no experiment, promising a favorable result, left untried to main- 
tain the peaceful relations of the country. When, some six or seven years 
ao-o, the affairs of the nation assumed a threatening aspect, a partial non- 
importation was adopted. As they grew more alarming, an embargo was 
imposed. It would have accomplished its purpose, but it was sacrificed 
upon the altar of conciliation. Vain and fruitless attempt to propitiate ! 
Then came along non-intercourse ; and a general non-importation fol- 
lowed in the train. In the mean time, any indications of a return to the 
public law and the path of justice, on the part of either belligerent, are 
seized upon with avidity by the administration. The arrangement with 
Mr. Erskine is concluded. It is first applauded, and then censured by 
the opposition. No matter with what unfeigned sincerity, with what real 
effort, the administration cultivates peace, the opposition insists that it 
alone is culpable for every breach that is made between the two countries. 
Because the president thought proper, in accepting the proffered repara- 
tion for the attack on a national vessel, to intimate that it would have 
better comported with the justice of the king (and who does not think 
so ?) to punish the offending officer, the opposition, entering into the royal 
feelino-s, sees, in that imaginary insult, abundant cause for rejecting Mr. 
ErsMne's arrangement. On another occasion, you can not have forgotten 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 55 

the hypocritical ingenuity which they displayed, to divest Mr. Jackson's 
correspondence of a premeditated insult to this country. If gentlemen 
would only reserve for their own government, half the sensibility which is 
indulged for that of Great Britain, they would find much less to condemn. 
Restriction after restriction has been tried ; negotiation has been resorted 
to, until further negotiation would have been disgraceful. While these 
peaceful experiments are undergoing a trial, what is the conduct of the 
opposition ? They are the champions of war — the proud — the spirited — 
the sole repository of the nation's honor — the men of exclusive vigor and 
energy. The administration, on the contrary, is weak, feeble, and pusil- 
lanimous — "incapable of being kicked into a war." The maxim, "not a 
cent for tribute, millions for defense," is loudly proclaimed. Is the admin- 
istration for negotiation ? The opposition is tired, sick, disgusted with 
negotiation. They want to draw the sword, and avenge the nation's 
wrongs. When, however, foreign nations, perhaps emboldened by the 
very opposition here made, refuse to listen to the amicable appeals, which 
have been repeated and reiterated by the administration, to their justice 
and to their interest — when, in fact, war with one of them has become 
identified with our independence and our sovereignty, and to abstain from 
it was no longer possible, behold the ojmosition veering round and be- 
coming the friends of peace and commerce. They tell you of the calam- 
ities of war, its tragical events, the squandering away of your resources, 
the waste of the public treasure, and the spilling of innocent blood. 
" Gorgons, hydras, and chimeras dire." They tell you that honor is an il- 
illusion ! Now, we see them exhibiting the terrific forms of the roaring 
king of the forest. Now the meekness and humility of the lamb ! They 
are for war and no restrictions, when the administration is for peace. They 
are for peace and restrictions, when the administration is for war. You 
find them, sir, tacking with every gale, displaying the colors of every party, 
and of all nations, steady only in one unalterable purpose — to steer, if 
possible, into the haven of power. 

During all this time, the parasites of opposition do not fail, by cunning 
sarcasm, or sly inuendo, to throw out the idea of French influence, which 
is known to be false, which ought to be met in one manner only, and that 
is by the lie direct. The administration of this country devoted to foreign 
influence ! The administration of this country subservient to France ! 
Great God ! what a charge ! how is it so influenced ? By what ligament, 
on what basis, on what possible foundation does it rest? Is it similarity 
of language ? No ! we speak different tongues, we speak the English lan- 
guage. On the resemblance of our laws? No ! the sources of our juris- 
prudence spring from another and a different country. On commercial 
intercourse ? No ! we have comparatively none with France. Is it from 
the correspondence in the genius of the two governments ? No ! here 
alone is the liberty of man secure from the inexorable despotism which 
everywhere else tramples it under foot. Where, then, is the ground of 



56 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

such an influence ? But, sir, I am insulting you by arguing on such a 
subject. Yet, preposterous and ridiculous as the insinuation is, it is prop- 
agated with so much industry, that there are persons found foolish and 
credulous enough to believe it. You will, no doubt, think it incredible 
(but I have nevertheless been told it as a fact) that an honorable member 
of this House, now in my eye, recently lost his election by the circulation 
of a silly stoiy in his district that he was the first cousin of the Emperor 
Napoleon. The proof of the charge rested on the statement of facts, 
which was undoubtedly true. The gentleman in question, it was alleged, 
had married a connection of the lady of the President of the United 
States, who was the intimate friend of Thomas Jefferson, late President of 
the United States, who, some years ago, was in the habit of wearing red 
French breeches. Now, taking these premises as established, you, Mr. 
Chairman, are too good a logician not to see that the conclusion neces- 
sarily follows. 

Throughout the period he had been speaking of, the opposition has 
been distinguished, amid all its veerings and changes, by another inflex- 
ible feature — the application to Bonaparte of every vile and opprobious 
epithet our language, copious as it is in terms of vituperation, affords. He 
has been compared to every hideous monster, and beast, from that men- 
tioned in the Revelations, down to the most insignificant quadruped. He 
has been called the scourge of mankind, the destroyer of Europe, the great 
robber, the infidel, the modern Attila, and heaven knows by what other 
names. Really, gentlemen remind me of an obscure lady, in a city not 
very far off, who also took it into her head, in conversation with an ac- 
complished French gentleman, to talk of the affairs of Europe. She, too, 
spoke of the destruction of the balance of power ; stormed and raged 
about the insatiable ambition of the emperor ; called him the curse of man- 
kind, the destroyer of Europe. The Frenchman listened to her with per- 
fect patience, and when she had ceased, said to her, with ineffable polite- 
ness, " Madame, it would give my master, the emperor, infinite pain, if he 
knew how hardly you thought of him." Sir, gentlemen appear to me to 
forget, that they stand on American soil ; that they are not in the British 
House of Commons, but in the chamber of the House of Representatives 
of the United States ; that we have nothing to do with the affairs of 
Europe, the partition of territory and sovereignty there, except so far as 
these things affect the interests of our own country. Gentlemen transform 
themselves into the Burkes, Chathams, and Pitts, of another country, and 
forgetting, from honest zeal, the interests of America, engage with Eu- 
ropean sensibility in the discussion of European interests. If gentlemen 
ask me Avhether I do not view with regret and horror the concentration of 
such vast power in the hands of Bonaparte, I reply, that I do. I regret to 
see the Emperor of China holding such immense sway over the fortunes 
of millions of our species. I regret to see Great Britain possessing so un- 
controlled a command over all the waters of our globe. If I had the 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 57 

ability to distribute among tbe nations of Europe tbeir several portions of 
power and of sovereignty, I would say that Holland should be resuscitated, 
and given tbe weight she enjoyed in the days of her De Witts. I would 
confine France within her natural boundaries, the Alps, Pyrenees, and the 
Rhine, and make her a secondary naval power only. I would abridge the 
British maritime power, raise Prussia and Austria to their original condi- 
tion, and preserve the integrity of the empire of Russia. But these are 
speculations. I look at the political transactions of Europe, with the single 
exception of their possible bearing upon us, as I do at the history of other 
countries, or other times. I do not survey them with half the interest that 
I do the movements in South America. Our political relation with them 
is much less important than it is supposed to be. I have no fears of French 
or English sr.bj ligation. If we are united we are too powerful for the 
mightiest nation in Europe, or all Europe combined. If we are separated 
and torn asunder, we shall become an easy prey to the weakest of them. In 
the latter cheadful contingency, our country will not he worth preserving. 

Next to the notice which the opposition has found itself called upon to 
bestow upon the French emperor, a distinguished citizen of Virginia for- 
merly President of the United States, has never for a moment failed to 
receive their kindest and most respectful attention. An honorable gentle- 
man from Massachusetts (Mr. Quincy), of whom I am sorry to say it be- 
comes necessary for me, in the course of my remarks, to take some notice, 
has alluded to him in a remarkable manuer. Neither his retirement from 
public office, his eminent services, nor his advanced age, can exempt this 
patriot from the coarse assaults of party malevolence. No, sir, in 1801, 
he snatched from the rude hand of usurpation the violated Constitution of 
his country, and that is his crime. lie preserved that instrument in form, 
and substance, and spirit, a precious inheritance for generations to come, 
and for this he can never be forgiven. How vain and impotent is party 
rage directed against such a man ! He is not more elevated by his lofty 
residence upon the summit of his own favorite mountain, than he is lifted, 
by the serenity of his mind and the consciousness of a well-spent life, above 
the malignant passions and bitter feelings of the d t y. No ! his own be- 
loved Monticello is not more moved by the storms that beat against its 
sides, than is this illustrious man by the bowlings of the whole British 
pack, set loose from the Essex kennel ! When the gentleman, to whom I 
have been compelled to allude, shall have mingled his dust with that of his 
abused ancestors, when he shall have been consigned to oblivion, or, if he 
lives at all, shall live only in the treasonable annals of a certain junto, the 
name of Jefferson will be hailed with gratitude, his memory honored and 
cherished as the second founder of the liberties of the people, and the 
perio 1 of his administration will be looked back to as one of the happiest 
and brightest epochs of American history — an oasis in the midst of a 
sandy desert. But I beg the gentleman's pardon ; he has, indeed, secured 
to himself a more imperishable fame than I had supposed ; I think it was 



58 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

about four years ago that he submitted to the House of Representatives an 
initiative proposition for an impeachment of Mr. Jefferson. The House 
condescended to consider it. The gentleman debated it with his usual 
temper, moderation, and urbanity. The House decided upon it in the most 
solemn manner, and, although the gentleman had some how obtained a 
second, the final vote stood, one for, and one hundred and seventeen 
against the proposition. 

In one respect there is a remarkable, difference between the administra- 
tion and the opposition : it is in a sacred regard for personal liberty. 
When out of power my political friends condemned the surrender of 
Jonathan Robhins ; they opposed the violation of the freedom of the press 
in the sedition law ; they opposed the more insidious attack upon the free- 
dom of the person, under the imposing garb of an alien law. The party 
now in opposition, then in power, advocated the sacrifice of the unhappy 
Robbins, and passed those two laws. True to our principles, we are now 
struggling for the liberty of our seamen against foreign oppression. True 
to theirs, they oppose a war undertaken for this object. They have, in- 
deed, lately affected a tender solicitude for the liberties of the people, and 
talk of the danger of standing armies, and the burden of the taxes. But 
it must be evident to you, Mr. Chairman, that they speak in a foreign 
idiom. Their broo-ue evinces that it is not their vernacular tono-ue. 
What! the opposition who, in 1798 and 1799, could raise a useless army 
to fight an enemy three thousand miles distant from us, alarmed at the ex- 
istence of one raised for a known and specified object — the attack of the 
adjoining provinces of the enemy! What! the gentleman from Massachu- 
setts, who assisted by his vote to raise the army of twenty-five thousand, 
alarmed at the danger of our liberties from this very army ! 

But, sir, I must speak of another subject which I never think of but 
with feelings of the deepest awe. The gentleman from Massachusetts, in 
imitation of some of his predecessors of 1799, has entertained us with a 
picture of cabinet plots, presidential plots, and all sorts of plots, which have 
been engendered by the diseased state of the gentleman's imagination. I 
wish, sir, that another plot of a much more serious and alarming character 
— a plot that aims at the dismemberment of our Union — had only the 
same imaginary existence. But no man who has paid any attention to 
tin.' tone of certain prints, and to transactions in a particular quarter of the 
Union, for several years past, can doubt the existence of such a plot. It 
was far, very far from my intention to charge the opposition with such a 
design. No, I believe them generally incapable of it. But I can not say 
as much for some, who have been unworthily associated with them in the 
quarter of the Union to which I have referred. The gentleman can not 
have forgotten his own sentiments, uttered even on the floor of this House, 
" peaceably if we can, forciuly if we must," nearly at the very time 
Henry's mission to Boston was undertaken. The flagitiousness of that 
embassy had been attempted to be concealed by directing the public at- 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 59 

tention to the price which, the gentleman says, was given for the dis- 
closure. As if any price could change the atrociousness of the attempt on 
the part of Great Britain, or could extenuate, in the slightest degree, the 
offense of those citizens who entertained and deliberated upon a proposition 
so infamous and unnatural ! There was a most remarkable coincidence 
between some of the things which that man states, and certain events in the 
quarter alluded to. In the contingency of war with Great Britain, it will 
be recollected that the neutrality and eventual separation of that section 
of the Union was to be brought about. How, sir, has it happened, since 
the declaration of war, that British officers in Canada have asserted to 
American officers, that this very neutrality would take place ? That they 
have so asserted can be established beyond controversy. The project is 
not brought forward openly with a direct avowal of the intention. No, 
the stock of good sense and patriotism in that portion of the country is too 
great to bo undisguisedly encountered. It is assailed from the masked 
batteries of friendship, of peace and commerce on the one side, and by the 
groundless imputation of opposite propensities on the other. The affec- 
tions of the people there are gradually to be undermined. The project is 
suggested or withdrawn ; the diabolical dramatis personal in this criminal 
tragedy make their appearance or exit as the audience, to whom they ad- 
dress themselves, applaud or condemn. I was astonished, sir, in leading 
lately a letter, or pretended letter, published in a prominent print in that 
quarter, and written, not in the fervor of party zeal, but coolly and dispas- 
sionately, to find that the writer affected to reason about a separation, and 
attempted to demonstrate its advantages to the different portions of tho 
Union, deploring the existence now of what he terms prejudices against it, 
but hoping for the arrival of the period when they shall be eradicated. 
But, sir, I will quit this unpleasant subject ; I will turn from one whom no 
sense of decency or propriety could restrain from soiling the carpet on 
which he treads, to gentlemen who .have not forgotten what is due to 
themselves, to the place in which we are assembled, or to those by whom 
they are opposed. The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pearson), 
from Connecticut (Mr. Pitkin), and from New York (Mr. Bleeker), have, 
with their usual decorum, contended that the war would not have been 
declared, had it not been for the duplicity of France in withholding an 
authentic instrument repealing the decrees of Berlin and Milan ; that, upon 
che exhibition of such an instrument the revocation of the Orders in 
Council took place ; that this main cause of the war, but for which it 
would not have been declared, being removed, the administration ought to 
seek for the restoration of peace ; and that upon its sincerely doing so, 
terms compatible with the honor and interest of this country might be ob- 
tained. It is my purpose, said Mr. Clay, to examine, first, into the cir- 
cumstances under which the war was declared ; secondly, into the causes 
of continuing it ; and lastly, into the means which have been taken, or 
ought to be taken to procure peace ; but, sir, I am really so exhausted 



60 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

that, little as I am in the habit of asking of the House an indulgence of 
this kind, I feel I must trespass on their goodness. 

[Here Mr. Clay sat down. Mr. Newton moved that the committee rise, 
report progress, and ask leave to sit again, which was done. On the next 
day he proceeded.] 

I am sensible, Mr. Chairman, that some part of the debate, to which 
this bill has given rise, has been attended by circumstances much to be re- 
gretted, not usual in this House, and of which it is to be hoped, there will 
be no repetition. The gentleman from Boston had so absolved himself 
from every rule of decorum and propriety, had so outraged all decency, 
that I have found it impossible to suppress the feelings excited on the oc- 
casion. His colleague, whom I have the honor to follow, (Mr. Wheaton), 
whatever else he might not have proved, in his very learned, ingenious, 
and original exposition of the powers of this government — an exposition in 
which he has sought, where nobody before him has, and nobody after him 
will look, fur a grant of our powers, I mean the preamble to the Constitu- 
tion — has clearly shown, to the satisfaction of all who heard him, that the 
power of defensive war is conferred. I claim the benefit of a similar prin 
ciple, in behalf of my political friends, against the gentlemen from Boston. 
I demand only the exercise of the right of repulsion. No one is more 
anxious than I am to preserve the dignity and the freedom of debate ; no 
member is more responsible for its abuse, and, if, on this occasion, its just 
limits have been violated, let him, who has been the unprovoked aggressor, 
appropriate to himself, exclusively, the consequences. 

I omitted yesterday, sir, when speaking of a delicate and painful sub- 
ject, to notice a powerful engine which the conspirators against the integ- 
rity of the Union employ, to effect their nefarious purpose : I mean 
southern influence. The true friend to his country, knowing that our 
Constitution was the work of compromise, in which interests apparently 
conflicting were attempted to be reconciled, aims to extinguish or allay 
prejudices. But this patriotic exertion does not suit the views of those 
who are urged on by diabolical ambition. They find it convenient, to 
imagine the existence of certain improper influences, and to propagate 
with their utmost industry a belief of them. Hence the idea of southern 
preponderance, Virginia influence, the yoking of the respectable yeomanry 
of the North with negro slaves to the car of southern nabobs. If Virginia 
really cherished a reprehensible ambition, an aim to monopolize the chief 
magistracy of the country, how was such a purpose to be accomplished ? 
Virginia, alone, can not elect a president, whose elevation depends upon a 
plurality of electoral votes, and a consequent concurrence of many States. 
Would Vermont, disinterested Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, independent 
Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, all consent to become the 
tools of inordinate ambition ? But the present incumbent was designated 
to the office before his predecessor had retired. How ? By public sen- 
timent — public sentiment, which grew out of his known virtues, his illustri- 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 61 

ous services, and his distinguished abilities. Would the gentleman crush 
this public sentiment ? Is he prepared to admit that he would arrest the 
progress of opinion ? 

The war was declared, because Great Britain arrogated to herself the 
pretension of regulating our foreign trade, under the delusive name of 
retaliatory orders in council — a pretension by which she undertook to 
proclaim to American enterprise, " thus far shalt thou go, and no further" 
— orders which she refused to revoke, after the alleged cause of their enact- 
ment had ceased; because she persisted in the practice of impressing 
American seamen ; because she had instigated the Indians to commit hos- 
tilities against us ; and because she refused indemnity for her past injuries 
upon our commerce. I throw out of the question other wrongs. The 
war in fact was announced, on our part, to meet the war which she was 
waning on her part. So undeniable were the causes of the war, so pow- 
erfully did they address themselves to the feeling of the whole American 
people, that when the bill was pending before this House, geutlemen in the 
opposition, although provoked to debate, would not, or could not, utter one 
syllable against it. It is true, they wrapped themselves up in sullen silence, 
pretending they did not choose to debate such a question in secret session. 
While speaking of the proceedings on that occasion, I beg to be permitted 
to advert to another fact which transpired — an important fact, material for 
the nation to know, and which I have often regretted had not been spread 
upon our journals. 

My honorable colleague (Mr. McKee) moved, in Committee of the 
Whole, to comprehend France in the war ; and when the question was 
taken upon the proposition, there appeared but ten votes in support of it, 
of which, seven belonged to this side of the House, and three only to the 
other ! It is said that we were inveigled into the war by the perfidy of 
France ; and that, had she furnished the document in time, which was 
first published in England, in May last, it would have been prevented. I 
will concede to gentlemen every thing they ask about the injustice of 
France toward this country. I wish to God that our ability was equal to 
our disposition, to make her feel the sense that we entertain of that in- 
justice. The manner of the publication of the paper in question was, un- 
doubtedly, extremely exceptionable. But I maintain that, had it made its 
appearance earlier, it would not have had the effect supposed ; and the 
proof lies in the unequivocal declarations of the British government. I 
will trouble you, sir, with going no further back than to the letters of the 
British minister, addressed to the Secretary of State, just before the expira- 
tion of his diplomatic function. It will be recollected by the committee, 
that he exhibited to this government a dispatch, from Lord Castlereagh, in 
which the principle was distinctly avowed, that, to produce the effect of 
a repeal of the orders in council, the French decrees must be absolutely 
and entirely revoked as to all the world, and not as to America alone. A 
copy of that dispatch was demanded of him, and he very awkwardly 



62 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

evaded it. But on the 10th of June, after the bill declaring war had 
actually passed this House, and was pending before the Senate (and which, 
I have no doubt, was known to him), in a letter to Mr. Monroe, he says : 
" I have no hesitation, sir, in saying, that Great Britain, as the case has 
hitherto stood, never did, and never could, engage, without the greatest 
injustice to herself and her allies, as well as to other neutral nations, 
to repeal her orders as affecting America alone, leaving them in force 
against other states, upon condition that France would except, singly 
and specially, America from the operation of her decrees." On the 14th 
of the same month, the bill still pending before the Senate, he repeats : 
" I will now say that I feel entirely authorized to assure you that if you 
can, at any time, produce a full and unconditional repeal of the French 
decrees, as you have a right ro demand it, in your character of a neutral 
nation, and that it be disengaged from any question concerning our mar- 
itime rights, we shall be ready to meet you with a revocation of the 
orders in council. Previously to your producing such an instrument, which 
I am sorry to see you regard as unnecessary, you can not expect of us to 
give up our orders in council." Thus, sir, you see that the British govern- 
ment would not be content with a repeal of the French decrees, as to us 
only. But the French paper in question was such a repeal. It could not, 
therefore, satisfy the British government. It could not, therefore, have in- 
duced that government, had it been earlier promulgated, to repeal the 
orders in council. It could not, therefore, have averted the war. The 
withholding of it did not occasion the war, and the promulgation of it 
would not have prevented the war. But gentlemen have contended that, 
in point of fact, it did produce a repeal of the orders in council. This I 
deny. After it made its appearance in England, it was declared by one 
of the British ministry, in Parliament, not to be satisfactory. And all the 
world knows that the repeal of the orders in council resulted from the in- 
quiry, reluctantly acceded to by the ministry, into the effect upon their 
manufacturing establishments, of our non-importation law, or to the war- 
like attitude assumed by this government, or to both. But it is said, that 
the orders in council are withdrawn, no matter from what cause ; and that 
having been the sole motive for declaring the war, the relations of peace 
ouo-ht to be restored. This brings me to the examination of the grounds 
for continuing the present hostilities between this country and Great 
Britain. 

I am far from acknowledging that, had the orders in council been re- 
pealed, as they have been, before the war was declared, the declaration of 
hostilities would of course have been prevented. In a body so numerous 
as this is, from which the declaration emanated, it is impossible to say, 
with any degree of certainty, what would have been the effect of such a 
repeal. Each member must answer for himself. As to myself, I have no 
hesitation in saying, that I have always considered the impressment of 
American seamen as much the most serious aggression. But, sir, how 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 63 

have those orders at last been repealed ? Great Britain, it is true, has 
intimated a willingness to suspend their practical operation, but she still 
arrogates to herself the right to revive thern upon certain contingencies, 
of which she constitutes herself the sole judge. She waives the temporary 
use of the rod, but she suspends it in terrorem over our heads. Supposing 
it to be conceded to, gentlemen, that such a repeal of the orders in 
council as took place on the 23d of June last, exceptionable as it is, being 
known before the war was proclaimed, would have prevented it ; does it 
follow that it ought to induce us to lav down our arms, without the redress 
of any other injury of which we complain ? 

Does it follow, in all cases, that what would in the first instance have 
prevented would also terminate the war ? By no meaus. It requires a 
strong and powerful effort in a nation, prone to peace as this is, to burst 
through its habits, and encounter the difficulties and privations of war. 
Such a nation ought but seldom to embark in a belligerent contest ; but 
when it does, it should be for obvious and essential rights alone, and should 
firmly resolve to extort, at all hazards their recognition. The war of the 
Revolution is an example of a war begun for one object and prosecuted for 
another. It was waged, in its commencement, against the right asserted 
by the parent country to tax the colonies. Then no one thought of abso- 
lute independence. The idea of independence was repelled. But the 
British government would have relinquished the principle of taxation. 
The founders of our liberties saw, however, that there was no security short 
of independence, and they achieved that independence. When nations are 
engaged in war, those rights in controversy, which are not acknowledged 
by the treaty of peace, are abandoned. And who is prepared to say, that 
American seamen shall be surrendered as victims to the English principle 
of impressment ? And, sir, what is this principle ? She contends, that 
she has a right to the services of her own subjects ; and that, in the exer- 
cise of this right, she may lawfully impress them, even although she finds 
them in American vessels, upon the high seas, without her jurisdiction. 
Now I deny that she has any right, beyond her jurisdiction, to come on 
board our vessels, upon the high seas, for any other purpose than in the 
pursuit of enemies, or their goods, or goods contraband of war. But she 
further contends, that her subjects can not renounce their allegiance to her, 
and contract a new obligation to other sovereigns. I do not mean to go 
into the general question of the right of expatriation. If, as is contended, 
all nations deny it, all nations at the same time admit and practice the 
right of naturalization. Great Britain herself does this. Great Britain, in 
the very case of foreign seamen, imposes, perhaps, fewer restraints upon 
naturalization than any other nation. Then, if subjects can not break their 
original allegiance, they may, according to universal usage, contract a new 
allegiance. What is the effect of this double obligation ? Undoubtedly, 
that the sovereign, having possession of the subject, would have the right 
to the services of the subject. If he return within the jurisdiction of his 



64 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

primitive sovereign lie may resume Lis right to his services, of which the 
subject, by his own act, could not divest himself. But his primitive sove- 
reign can have no right to go in quest of him, out of his own jurisdiction, 
into the jurisdiction of another sovereign, or upon the high seas, where 
there exists either no jurisdiction, or it is possessed by the nation owning 
the ship navigating them. But, sir, this discussion is altogether useless. 
It is not to the British principle, objectionable as it is, that we are alone to 
look ; it is to her practice, no matter what guise she puts on. It is in 
vain to assert the inviolability of the obligation of allegiance. It is in 
vain to set up the plea of necessity, and to allege that she can not exist, 
without the impressment of her seamen. The naked truth is, she comes, 
by her press-gangs, on board of our vessels, seizes ouk native as well as 
naturalized seamen, and drags them into her service. It is the case, then, 
of the assertion of an erroneous principle, and of a practice not conform- 
able to the asserted principle — a principle, which, if it were theoretically 
right, must be forever practically wrong — a practice which can obtain 
countenauce from no principle whatever, and to submit to which, on our 
part, would betray the most abject degradation. We are told, by gentle- 
men in the opposition, that government has not done all that was incum- 
bent on it to do, to avoid just cause of complaint on the part of Great 
Britain ; that, iu particular, the certificates of protection, authorized by the 
act of 1796, are fraudulently used. Sir, government has done too much 
in granting those paper protections. I can never think of them without 
being shocked. They resemble the passes which the master grants to his 
neoro slave — " Let the bearer, Mungo, pass and repass without molesta- 
tion." What do they imply ? That Great Britain has a right to seize all 
who are not provided with them. From their very nature, they must be 
liable to abuse on both sides. If Great Britain desires a mark, by which 
she can know her own subjects, let her give them an ear mark. The colors 
that float from the mast-head should be the credentials of our seamen. 
There is no safety to us, and the gentlemen have shown it, but in the 
rule, that all who sail under the flag (not being enemies) are protected by 
the flag. It is impossible, that this country should ever abandon the gal- 
lant tars who have won for us such splendid trophies. Let me suppose 
that the genius of Columbia should visit one of them in his oppressor's 
prison, and attempt to reconcile him to his forlorn and wretched condition. 
She would say to him, in the language of gentlemen on the other side, 
" Great Britain intends you no harm ; she did not mean to impress you, 
but one of her own subjects; having taken you by mistake, I will remon- 
strate, and try to prevail upon her, by peaceable means, to release you ; but 
I can not, my son, fight for you." If he did not consider this mere mock- 
ery, the poor tar would address her judgment, and say, " You owe me, my 
country, protection ; I owe you, in return, obedience. I am no British 
subject, I am a native of old Massachusetts, where lived my aged lather, 
my wife, my children. I have faithfully discharged my duty. Will you 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 65 

refuse to do yours ?" Appealing to her passions, he would continue : * ; I 
lost this eye in fighting under Truxton, with the Insurgente ; I got this 
scar before Tripoli ; I broke this leg on board the Constitution, when the 
Guerriere struck." If she remained still unmoved, he would break out, in 
the accents of mingled distress and despair, 

' ' Hard, hard is my fate ! once I freedom enjoyed, 
Was as happy as happy could be 1 
Oh I how hard is my fate, how galling these chains !'* 

I will not imagine the dreadful catastrophe to which he would be driven 
by an abandonment of him to his oppressor. It will not be, it can not be, 
that his country will refuse him protection. 

It is said that Great Britain has been always willing to make a satis- 
factory arrangement of the subject of impressment ; and that Mr. King 
had nearly concluded one, prior to his departure from that country. Let 
us hear what that minister says upon his return to America. In this letter, 
dated at New York in July, 1803, after giving an account of his attempt 
to form an arrangement for the protection of our seamen, and his inter- 
views to this end with Lords Hawkesbury and St. Vincent ; and stating 
that, when he had supposed the terms of a convention were agreed upon, 
a new pretension was set up (the mare clausum), he concludes : " I regret 
to have been uuable to put this business on a satisfactory footing, knowing, 
as I do, its very great importance to both parties ; but I flatter myself that 
I have not misjudged the interests of our own country, in refusing to sanc- 
tion a principle that might be productive of more extensive evils than 
those it was our aim to prevent." The sequel of his negotiation on this 
affair is more fully given in the recent conversation between Mr. Russell 
and Lord Castlereagh, communicated to Congress during its present ses- 
sion. Lord Castlereagh says to Mr. Russell : 

"Indeed, there has evidently been much misapprehension on this sub- 
ject ; an erroneous belief entertained that an arrangement, in regard to it, 
has been nearer an accomplishment than the facts will waraant. Even our 
friends in Congress, I mean those who are opposed to going to war with us, 
have been so confident in this mistake, that they have ascribed the failure 
of such an arrangement solely to the misconduct of the American govern- 
ment. This error probably originated with Mr. King ; for, being much 
esteemed here, and always well received by the persons in power, he seems 
to have misconstrued their readiness to listen to his representations, and 
their warm professions of a disposition to remove the complaints of Amer- 
ica, in relation to impressment, into a supposed conviction, on their part, 
of the propriety of adopting the plan which he had proposed. But Lord 
St. Vincent, whom he might have thought he had brought over to his 
opinions, appears never for a moment to have ceased to regard all arrange- 

* The effect of the above hypothetical dialogue, ending with these lines, is said 
to have been prodigious. — Editor. 

5 



66 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ments on the subject, to be attended with formidable if not insurmountable 
obstacles. This is obvious, from a letter which his lordship addressed 
to Sir AVilliam Scott at the time." Here Lord Castlereagh read a letter, 
contained in the records before him, in which Lord St. Vincent states to Sir 
William Scott the zeal with which Mr. King had assailed him on this 
subject of impressment ; confesses his own perplexity, and total incompe- 
tency to discover any practical project for the safe discontinuance of that 
practice, and asks for counsel and advice. " Thus you see," proceeded 
Lord Castlereagh, " that the confidence of Mr. King, on this subject, was 
entirely unfounded." 

Thus it is apparent, that at no time has the enemy been willing to place 
this subject on a satisfactory footing. I will speak hereafter of the over- 
tures made by the administration since the war. 

The honorable gentleman from New York (Mr. Bleeker), in the very 
sensible speech with which he favored the committee, made one observa- 
tion which did not comport with his usual liberal and enlarged views. It 
was, that those who are most interested against the practice of impress- 
ment, did not desire a continuance of the war on account of it; while 
those (the southern and western members) who had no interest in it, were 
the zealous advocates of American seamen. It was a provincial sentiment 
unworthy of that gentleman. It was one which, in a change of con- 
dition, he would not express, because I know he could not feel it. Does 
not that gentleman feel for the unhappy victims of the tomahawk in the 
western wilds, although his quarter of the Union may be exempted from 
similar barbarities ? I am sure he does. If there be a description of 
rights which, more than any other, should unite all parties in all quarters 
of the Union, it is unquestionably the rights of the person. No matter 
what his vocation ; whether he seeks subsistence amid the dangers of the 
deep, or draws them from the bowels of the earth, or from the humblest 
occupations of mechanic life ; wherever the sacred rights of an American 
freeman are assailed, all hearts ought to unite, and every arm should be 
braced to vindicate his cause. 

The gentleman from Delaware sees in Canada no object worthy of con- 
quest. According to him it is a cold, sterile, and inhospitable region. 
And yet such are the allurements which it offers, that the same gentleman 
apprehends that if it be annexed to the United States, already too much 
weakened by an extension of territory, the people of New England will 
rush over the line and depopulate that section of the Union ! That gen- 
tleman considers it honest to hold Canada as a kind of hostage, to regard 
it as a sort of bond for the good behavior of the enemy. But he will not 
enforce the bond. The actual conquest of that country would, according 
to him, make no impression upon the enemy ; and yet the very apprehen- 
sion only of such a conquest would, at all times, have a powerful operation 
upon him ! Other gentlemen consider the invasion of that country as 
wicked and unjustifiable. Its inhabitants are represented as harmless and 



ON THE NEW AKMY BILL. 67 

unoffending ; as connected -with those of the bordering States by a thou- 
sand tender ties, interchanging acts of kindness, and all the offices of good 
neighborhood. Canada, said Mr. Clay, innocent ! Canada unoffending ! 
Is it not in Canada that the tomahawk of the savage has been molded into 
its death-like form ? Has it not been from Canadian magazines, Maiden 
and others, that those supplies have been issued which nourish and con- 
tinue the Indian hostilities — supplies which have enabled the savage 
hordes to butcher the garrison of Chicago, and to commit other horrible 
excesses and murders ? Was it not by the joint co-operation of Canadians 
and Indians that a remote American fort, Michilimackiuac, was assailed 
and reduced while in ignorance of a state of war ? But, sir, how soon 
have the opposition changed their tone ! When the administration was 
striving, by the operation of peaceful measures, to bring Great Britain 
back to a sense of justice, they were for old-fashioned war. And now they 
have got old-fashioned war their sensibilities are cruelly shocked, and all 
their sympathies lavished upon the harmless inhabitants of the adjoining 
provinces. What does a state of war present ? The united energies of 
one people arrayed against the combined energies of another ; a conflict 
in which each party aims to inflict all the injury it can, by sea and land, 
upon the territories, property, and citizens of an other ; subject only to 
the rules of mitigated war practiced by civilized nations. The gentlemen 
would not touch the continental provinces of the enemy, nor, I presume, 
for the same reason, her possessions in the West Indies. The same hu- 
mane spirit would spare the seamen and soldiers of the enemy. The sa- 
cred person of his majesty must not be attacked ; for the learned gentlemen 
on the other side are quite familiar with the maxim, that the king can do 
no wrong. Indeed, sir, I know of no person on whom we may make war 
upon the principles of the honorable gentlemen but Mr. Stephen, the cele- 
brated author of the orders in council, or the Board of Admiralty who au- 
thorize and regulate the practice of impressment! 

The disasters of the war admonish us, we are told, of the necessity of 
terminating the contest. If our achievements by land have been less 
splendid than those of our intrepid seamen by water, it is not because the 
American soldier is less brave. On the one element, organization, discip- 
line, and a thorough knowledge of their duties, exist, on the part of the 
officers and their men. On the other, almost every thing is yet to be ac- 
quired. We have, however, the consolation that our country abounds with 
the richest materials, and that in no instance, when engaged in action, 
have our arms been tarnished. At Brownstown and at Queenstown the 
valor of veterans was displayed, and acts of the noblest heroism were per- 
formed. It is true that the disgrace of Detroit remains to be wiped off. 
That is a subject on which I can not trust my feelings ; it is not fitting I 
should speak. But this much I will say, it was an event which no human 
foresight could have anticipated, and for which the administration can not 
be justly censured. It was the parent of all the misfortunes we have ex- 



68 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

perienced on land. But for it the Indian war would have been, in a great 
measure, prevented or terminated ; the ascendency on lake Erie acquired, 
and the war pushed on, perhaps, to Montreal. With the exception of that 
event, the war, even upon the land, has been attended by a series of the 
most brilliant exploits, which, whatever interest they may inspire on this 
side of the mountains, have given the greatest pleasure on the other. 
The expedition, under the command of Governor Edwards and Colonel 
Russell, to lake Pioria, on the Illinois, was completely successful. So was 
that of Captain Craig, who, it is said, ascended that river still higher. 
General Hopkins destroyed the prophet's town. We have just received 
intelligence of the gallant enterprise of Colonel Campbell. In short, sir, 
the Indian towns have been swept from the mouth to the source of the 
Wabash ; and a hostile country has been penetrated far beyond the 
most daring incursions of any campaign, during the former Indian 
war. Never was more cool, deliberate bravery displayed, than that 
by Newman's party, from Georgia. And the capture of the Detroit, and 
the destruction of the Caledonia (whether placed to a 'maritime or land 
account), for judgment, skill, and courage, on the part of Lieutenant 
Elliott, have never been surpassed. 

It is alleged that the elections in England are in favor of the ministry, 
and that those in this country are against the war. If, in such a cause 
(saying nothing of the impurity of their elections) the people of that coun- 
try have rallied round their government, it affords a salutary lesson to the 
people here ; who, at all hazards, ought to support theirs, struggling as it 
is to maintain our just rights. But the people here have not been false 
to themselves ; a great majority approve the war, as is evinced by the re- 
cent re-election of the chief magistrate. Suppose it were even true, that 
an entire section of the Union were opposed to the war ; that section 
being a minority, is the will of the majority to be relinquished ? In that 
section the real strength of the opposition had been greatly exaggerated. 
Vermont has, by two successive expressions of her opinion, approved the 
declaration of war. In New Hampshire, parties are so nearly equipoised, 
that out of thirty or thirty-five thousand votes, those who approved and 
are for supporting it, lost the election by only one thousand or one thou- 
sand five hundred. In Massachusetts alone have they obtained any con- 
siderable accession. If we come to New York, we shall find that other 
and local causes have influenced her elections. 

What cause, Mr. Chairman, which existed for declaring the war, has 
been removed % We sought indemnity for the past, and security for the 
future. The orders in council are suspended, not revoked ; no compensa- 
tion for spoliations ; Indian hostilities, which were before secretly insti- 
gated, are now openly encouraged ; and the practice of impressment unre- 
mittingly persevered in and insisted upon. Yet the administration has 
given the strongest demonstrations of its love of peace. On the 29 th 
of June, less than ten days after the declaration of war, the Secretary of 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 69 

State writes to Mr. Russell, authorizing him to agree to an armistice, upon 
two conditions only, and what are they ? That the orders in council 
should be repealed, and the practice of impressing American seamen cease, 
those already impressed being released. The proposition was for nothing 
more than a real truce ; that the war should in fact cease on both sides. 
Again, on the 27th of July, one month later, anticipating a possible ob- 
jection to these terms, reasonable as they are, Mr. Monroe empowers 
Mr. Russell to stipulate in general terms for an armistice, having only a 
formal understanding on these points. In return, the enemy is offered a 
prohibition of the employment of his seamen in our service, thus remov- 
ing entirely all pretext for the practice of impressment. The very propo- 
sition which the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Pitkin) contends ought 
to be made, has been made. How are these pacific advances met by the 
other party? Rejected as absolutely inadmissible; cavils are indulged 
about the inadequacy of Mr. Russell's powers, and the want of an act of 
Congress is intimated. And yet the constant usage of nations, I believe, 
is, where the legislation of one party is necessary to carry into effect a 
given stipulation, to leave it to the contracting party to provide the re- 
quisite laws. If he fail to do so, it is a breach of good faith, and becomes 
the subject of subsequent remonstrance by the injured party. When Mr. 
Russell renews the overture, in what was intended as a more agreeable form 
to the British government, Lord Castlereagh is not content with a simple 
rejection, but clothes it in the language of insult. Afterward, in conver- 
sation with Mr. Russell, the moderation of our government is misinter- 
preted, and made the occasion of a sneer, that we are tired of the war. 
The proposition of Admiral Warren is submitted in a spirit not more pa- 
cific. He is instructed, he tells us, to propose, that the government of 
the United States shall instantly recall their letters of marque and reprisal 
against British ships, together with all orders and instructions for any acts 
of hostility whatever, against the territories of his majesty, or the persons 
or property of his subjects. That small affair being settled, he is further 
authorized to arrange as to the revocation of the laws which interdict the 
commerce and ships of war of his majesty from the harbors and waters 
of the United States. This messenger of peace comes with one qualified 
concession in his pocket, not made to the justice of our demands, and is 
fully empowered to receive our homage, a contrite retraction of all our 
measures adopted against his master ! And, in default, he does not fail to 
assure us, the orders in council are to be forthwith revived. The admin- 
istration, still anxious to terminate the war, suppresses the indignation which 
such a proposal ought to have created, and, in its answer, concludes by 
informing Admiral Warren, " that if there be no objection to an accommo- 
dation of the difference relating to impressment, in the mode proposed, 
other than the suspension of the British claim to impressment during the 
armistice, there can be none to proceeding, without the armistice, to an 
immediate discussion and arrangement of an article on that subject." 



70 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Thus it has left the door of negotiation unclosed, and it remains to be 
seen, if the enemy will accept the invitation tendered to him. The hon- 
orable gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pearson) supposes, that if 
Congress would pass a law, prohibiting the employment of British seamen 
in our service, upon condition of a like prohibition on their part, and re- 
peal the act of non-importation, peace would immediately follow. Sir, I 
have no doubt, if such a law were to pass, with all the requisite solem- 
nities, and the repeal to take place, Lord Castlereagh would laugh at our 
simplicity. No, sir, the administration has erred in the steps which it has 
taken to restore peace, but its error has been not in doing too little, but 
in betraying too great a solicitude for that event. An honorable peace 
is attainable only by an efficient war. My plan would be, to call out the 
ample resources of the country, give them a judicious direction, prosecute 
the war with the utmost vigor, strike wherever we can reach the enemy, 
at sea or on land, and negotiate the terms of a peace at Quebec or at 
Halifax. We are told that England is a proud and lofty nation, which, 
disdaining to wait for danger, meets it half way. Haughty as she is, 
we once triumphed over her, and, if we do not listen to the counsels of 
timidity and despair, we shall again prevail. In such a cause, with the 
aid of Providence, we must come out crowned with success ; but if we 
fail, let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our gallant tars, and expire 
together in one common struggle, lighting for free trade and seamen's 

EIGHTS. 



ON MR. CLAY'S RETURN FROM GHENT. 

DELIVERED AT A PUBLIC DINNER AT LEXINGTON, GIVEN IN HONOR 
OF MR. CLAY, OCTOBER 7, 1815. 

[Mr. Clay, who had been the chief prompter of the war with 
Great Britain, was appointed one of the Commissioners to nego- 
tiate a peace, and, as has ever been conceded, was greatly influ- 
ential in determining the conditions. Christopher Hughes, the 
Secretary of that Commission, in a private letter to Mr. Clay, 
dated November, 27, 1844, at London, says : " You did more at 
that Congress than any of its members, by your tact, your dis- 
cretion, your moderation, your self-command, and your incom- 
parable manner — more, I say, than any other, to bestow this 
most blessed boon (of peace) among men." Mr. Clay's friends at 
Lexington, including the people of all parties, were justly proud, 
not only of the part he had enacted in the war, but especially of 
his instrumentality in making peace ; and on his return, they 
gave him a public dinner. One of the toasts was as follows : 
" Our negotiators at Ghent : their talents at diplomacy have 
kept pace with the valor of our arms, in demonstrating to the 
enemy that these States will be free." Another toast was : " Our 
guest, Henry Clay : we welcome his return to that country 
whose rights and interests he has so ably maintained at home 
and abroad." To the first of these toasts Mr. Clay made the 
following reply :] 

I feel myself called on, by the sentiment just expressed, to return my 
thanks, in behalf of my colleagues and myself. I do not, and am quite sure 
they do not, feel, that, in the service alluded to, they are at all entitled to 
the compliment which has been paid them. We could not do otherwiso 
than reject the demand made by the other party ; and if our labors finally 
terminated in an honorable peace, it was owing to causes on this side of 
the Atlantic, and not to any exertion of ours. Whatever diversity of 
opinion may have existed as to the declaration of the war, there are some 
points on which all may look back with proud satisfaction. The first re- 



72 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Iate3 to the time of the conclusion of the peace. Had it been made im- 
mediately after the treaty of Paris, we should have retired humiliated from 
the contest, believing that we had escaped the severe chastisement with 
which we were threatened, and that we owed to the generosity and mag- 
nanimity of the enemy, what we were incapable of commanding by our 
arms. That magnanimity would have been the theme of every tongue, 
and of every press, abroad and at home. We should have retired, uncon- 
scious of our own strength, and unconscious of the utter inability of the 
enemy, with his whole undivided force, to make any serious impression 
upon us. Our military character, then in the lowest state of degradation, 
would have been unretrieved. Fortunately for us, Great Britain chose 
to try the issue of the last campaign. And the issue of the last campaign 
has demonstrated, in the repulse before Baltimore, the retreat from Piatts- 
burg, the hard-fought action on the Niagara frontier, and in that most 
glorious day, the eighth of January, that we have always possessed the finest 
elements of military composition, and that a proper use of them, only, was 
necessary, to insure for the army and militia a fame as imperishable as that 
which the navy had previously acquired. 

Another point which appears to me to afford the highest consolation is, 
that Ave fought the most powerful nation, perhaps, in existence, single- 
handed and alone, without any sort of alliance. More than thirty years 
has Great Britain been maturing her physical means, which she had ren- 
dered as efficacious as possible, by skill, by discipline, and by actual serv- 
ice. Proudly boasting of the conquest of Europe, she vainly flattered 
herself with the easy conquest of America also. Her veterans were put 
to flight or defeated, while all Europe — I mean the governments of Europe 
— was gazing with cold indifference, or sentiments of positive hatred of 
us, upon the arduous contest. Hereafter no monarch can assert claims of 
gratitude upon us, for assistance rendered in the hour of danger. 

There is another view of which the subject of the war is fairly suscept- 
ible. From the moment that Great Britain came forward at Ghent with 
her extravagant demands, the war totally changed its character. It be- 
came, as it were, a new war. It was no longer an American war, prose- 
cuted for redress of British aggressions upon American rights, but became 
a British war, prosecuted for objects of British ambition, to be accompanied 
by American sacrifices. And what were those demands ? Here, in the 
immediate neighborhood of a sister State and territories, which were to be 
made in part the victims, they must have been felt, and their enormity 
justly appreciated. They consisted of the erection of a barrier between 
Canada and the United States, to be formed by cutting off from Ohio and 
some of the territories a country more extensive than Great Britain, con- 
taining thousands of freemen, who were to be abandoned to their fate, and 
creating a new power, totally unknown upon the continent of America ; 
of the dismantling of our fortresses, and naval power on the lakes, with 
the surrender of the military occupation of those waters to the enemy, and 



ON HIS RETURN FROM GHENT. 73 

of an arrondissement for two British provinces. These demands, boldly 
asserted, and one of them declared to be a sine qua non, were finally re- 
linquished. Taking this view of the subject, if there be loss of reputation 
by either party, in the terms of peace, who has sustained it ? 

The effects of the war are highly satisfactory. Abroad, our character, 
which at the time of its declaration was in the lowest state of degradation, 
is raised to the highest point of elevation. It is impossible for any Amer- 
ican to visit Europe, without being sensible of this agreeable change, in the 
personal attentions which he receives, in the praises which are bestowed 
on our past exertions, and the predictions which are made as to our future 
prospects. At home, a government, which, at its formation, was appre- 
hended by its best friends, and pronounced by its enemies to be incapable 
of standing the shock, is found to answer all the purposes of its institution. 
In spite of the errors which have been committed (and errors have undoubt- 
edly been committed), aided by the spirit and patriotism of the people, it 
is demonstrated to be as competent to the objects of effective war, as it 
has been before proved to be to the concerns of a season of peace. 
Government has thus acquired strength and confidence. Our prospects 
for the future, are of the brightest kind. With every reason to count on 
the permanence of peace, it remains only for the Government to determine 
upon military and naval establishments adapted to the growth and exten- 
sion of our country and its rising importance, keeping in view a gradual 
but not burdensome increase of the navy ; to provide for the payment of 
the interest, and the redemption of the public debt, and for the current ex- 
penses of Government. For all these objects, the existing sources of the 
revenue promise not only to be abundantly sufficient, but will probably leave 
ample scope to the exercise of the judgment of Congress, in selecting for 
repeal, modification, or abolition, those which may be found most oppress- 
ive, inconvenient, or unproductive. 

[In reply to the second toast, as given above, Mr. Clay said :] 

My friends, I must again thank you for your kind and affectionate attention. 
My reception has been more like that of a brother than a common friend 
or acquaintance, and I am utterly incapable of finding words to express my 
gratitude. My situation is like that of a Swedish gentleman, at a dinner 
given in England by the Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress. A 
toast having been given complimentary to his country, it was expected, as 
is usual on such occasions, that he would rise and address the company. 
The gentleman, not understanding the English language, rose under great 
embarassment, and said, " Sir, I wish you to consider me a foreigner in 
distress." I wish you, gentlemen, to consider me a friend in distress. 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 

MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS, LEXINGTON, JUNE 3, 1816. 

[Mr. Clay's speech in the House of Eepresentatives, 1816, in 
favor of the re-incorporation of the Bank of the United States, 
was not published ; and as he had spoken and voted against the 
hill for the re-charter of the Bank in 1811, it seemed quite 
proper, and necessary to his polititical consistency, that he 
should avail himself of some opportunity to give his reasons for 
this apparent change of opinion. In our introduction to his 
speech on this subject, in 1811, we have endeavored to show, 
that there was really no change of opinion, but simply an adapta- 
tion of policy to a change of circumstances in the financial and 
commercial condition of the nation. In 1811, the State banks 
were in a good condition, and competent, if required, to transact 
the financial affairs of the general government ; whereas, the 
national bank, as then administered, did not work satisfactorily. 
It could be dispensed with, if the State banks had continued 
sound. But the war of 1812 gave such a severe trial to the State 
bank system, as nearly to break it down, and at the close of the 
war, the country was left without a sound currency. Commerce, 
trade, and the government, were equally embarrassed for proper 
and safe financial agents. The currency had utterly failed to 
furnish an agency for these indispensable purposes, and the uni- 
versal cry was for a national bank. What could a wise and 
practical statesman do in such a case ? If he could see that it 
was merely a present popular demand, soon to pass over, he 
might risk opposition to the measure ; but if the demand was 
well founded, and likely to become louder and stronger from the 
necessities of the country, opposition would have been an act 
of folly. The success of the bank for twenty years from 1816, 
proved the wisdom of the measure. It executed all the financial 
business of the government without charge, receiving for its com- 
pensation the use of the public deposits ; it operated as a salu- 
tary regulator of the currency by its check on unsound State 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 75 

banks ; and no party or person ever suffered the loss of a penny 
by this bank. Nicholas Biddle, when he established the United 
States Bank of Pennsylvania, committed the injustice, it might 
be called a fraud, by continuing the same name — " United States 
Bank" — to this State institution ; whereas it was no more a na- 
tional institution than a hotel or oyster-cellar called by that 
name, of which there are specimens in every city of the United 
States ; and when Nicholas Biddle's State bank, wearing this 
name, like a seventy-four gun ship floating in a mill-pond, failed, 
it was alleged by the party opposed to a national bank, to be a 
national bank ; and to this day more than half of the people of 
the United States think it was the same national bank which 
served the nation and the commercial public so well, till General 
Jackson, in 1836, vetoed the bill to re-charter it. Biddle's bank 
failed, because, in the use of its credit and funds, he entered into 
commercial speculations, which never could have been done, if the 
same capital had been in a national bank, as it would have had 
full employment as a national institution. -The Committee of 
Congress, also, appointed for a periodical inspection of the affairs 
of the national bank, was ever an effectual check on such a per- 
version of its faculties. But the State of Pennsylvania, which 
conferred the charter on Nicholas Biddle's bank, had provided no 
such check. With a capital of thirty-six millions, in a State 
bank, which must be employed some way, Nicholas Biddle 
launched forth into his wild speculations, and hence the ruin of 
the bank. The following address is a lucid exposition of Mr. 
Clay's reasons for opposing the re-charter of the bank in 1811, 
and for advocating the bill in 1816.] 

On one subject, that of the Bank of the United States, to. which at the 
late session of Congress he gave his humble support, Mr. Clay felt par- 
ticularly anxious to explain the grounds on which he had acted. This ex- 
planation, if not due to his own character, the State, and the district to 
which he belonged, had a right to demand. It would have been unneces- 
sary if his observations addressed to the House of Representatives, pend- 
ing the measure, had been published ; but they were not published, and 
why they were not published he was unadvised. 

When he was a member of the Senate of the United States, he was in- 
duced to oppose the renewal of the charter to the old Bank of the United 
States by three general considerations. The first was that he was in- 
structed to oppose it by the Legislature of the State. What were the 
reasons that operated with the Legislature in giving the instruction he did 
not know. He has understood from members of that body, at the time it 



76 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

was given, that a clause, declaring that Congress had no power to grant 
the charter, was stricken out ; from which it might be inferred, either that 
the Legislature did not believe a bank to be unconstitutional, or that it had 
formed no opinion on that point. This inference derives additional strength 
from the fact that, although the two late senators from this State, as well 
as the present senators, voted for a national bank, the Legislature, which 
must have been well apprised that such a measure was in contemplation, 
did not again interpose, either to protest against the measure itself, or to 
censure the conduct of those senators. From this silence on the part of 
a body which has ever fixed a watchful eye upon the proceedings of the 
general government, he had a right to believe that the Legislature of Ken- 
tucky saw, without dissatisfaction, the proposal to establish a national ban! ; 
and that its opposition to the former one was upon grounds of expediency, 
applicable to that corporation aloue, or no longer existing. But when, at 
the last session, the question came up as to the establishment of a national 
bank, being a member of the House of Representatives, the point of in- 
quiry with him was, not so much what was the opinion of the Legislature 

although undoubtedly the opinion of a body so respectable would have 

great weight with him under any circumstances — as what were the senti- 
ments of his immediate constituents. These he believed to be in favor of 
such an institution from the following circumstances : In the first place, 
his predecessor (Mr. Hawkins) voted for a national bank, without the 
slightest murmur of discontent. Secondly, during the last fall, when he 
was in his district, he conversed freely with many of his constituents upon 
that subject, then the most common topic of conversation, and all, with- 
out a single exception, as far as he recollected, agreed that it was a desir- 
able if not the only efficient remedy for the alarming evils in the currency 
of the country. And lastly, during the session, he received many letters 
from his constituents, prior to the passage of the bill, all of which con- 
curred, he believed without a solitary exception, in advising the measure. 
So far, then, from being instructed by his district to oppose the bank, he 
had what was, perhaps, tantamount to an instruction to support it — the 
acquiescence of his constituents in the vote of their former representative, 
and the communications, oral, and written, of the opinions of many of 
them in favor of a bank. 

The next consideration which induced him to oppose the renewal of the 
old charter was, that he believed the corporation had, during a portion of 
the period of its existence, abused its powers, and had sought to subserve 
the views of a political party. Instances of its oppression, for that pur- 
pose, were asserted to have occurred at Philadelphia and at Charleston ; 
and, although denied in Congress by the friends of the institution, during 
the discussions on the application for the renewal of the charter, they 
were in his judgment, satisfactorily made out. This oppression, indeed, 
was admitted in the House of Representatives, in the debate on the present 
bank, by a distinguished member of that party which had so warmly 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 77 

espoused the renewal of the old charter. It may be said, what security is 
there that the new bank will not imitate this example of oppression ? He 
answered, the fate of the old bank, warning all similar institutions to shun 
politics, with which they ought not to have any concern ; the existence of 
abundant competition, arising from the great multiplication of banks ; and 
the precautions which are to be found in the details of the present bill. 

A third consideration upon which he acted in 1811, was, that as the 
power to create a corporation, such as was proposed to be continued, was 
not specifically granted in the Constitution, and did not then appear to 
him to be necessary to carry into effect any of the powers which were 
specifically granted, Congress was not authorized to continue the bank. 
The Constitution, he said, contained powers delegated and prohibitory, 
powers expressed and constructive. It vests in Congress all powers neces- 
sary to give effect to the enumerated pow r ers — all that may be necessary to 
put in motion and activity the machine of government which it constructs. 
The powers lhat may be so necessary are deducible by construction. They 
are not defined in the Constitution. They are, from their nature, indefin- 
able. When the question is in relation to one of these powers, the point 
of inquiry should be, is its exertion necessary to carry into effect any of 
the enumerated powers and objects of the general government ? With 
regard to the degree of necessity vaiious rules have been, at different 
times, laid down ; but, perhaps, at last, there is no other than a souud and 
honest judgment, exercised under the checks and control which belong to 
the Constitution and to the people. 

The constructive powers being auxiliary to the specifically granted 
powers, and depending for their sanction and existence upon a necessity to 
give effect to the latter, which necessity is to be sought for and ascertained 
by a sound and honest discretion, it is manifest that this necessity may 
not be perceived, at -one time under one state of things, when it is per- 
ceived, at another time, under a different state of things. The Constitution, 
it is true, never changes ; it is always the same ; but the force of cir- 
cumstances and the lights of experience may evolve to the fallible persons 
charged with its administration, the fitness and necessity of a particular 
exercise of constructive power to-day, which they did not see at a former 
period. 

Mr. Clay proceeded to remark, that when the application was made to 
renew the old charter of the Bank of the United States, such an institu- 
tion did not appear to him to be so necessary to the fulfillment of any 
of the objects specially enumerated in the Constitution, as to justify Con- 
gress in assuming, by construction, a power to establish it. It was sup- 
ported mainly upon the ground that it was indispensable to the treasury 
operations. But the local institutions in the several States were, at that 
time, in prosperous existence, confided in by the community, having a con- 
fidence in each other, and maintaining an intercourse and connection the 
most intimate. Many of them were actually employed by the treasury to 



78 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

aid that department in a part of its fiscal arrangements ; and they appeared 
to him to be fully capable of affording to it all the facility that it ought 
to desire in all of them. They superseded, in his judgment, the necessity 
of a national institution. But how stood the case in 1816, when he was 
called upon again to examine the power of the general government to 
incorporate a national bank ? A total change of circumstances was pre- 
sented ; events of the utmost magnitude had intervened. 

A general suspension of specie payments had taken place, and this 
had led to a train of consequences of the most alarming nature. He 
beheld, dispersed over the immense extent of the United States, about 
three hundred banking institutions, enjoying in different degrees the con- 
fidence of the public, shaken as to them all, under no direct control of the 
general government, and subject to no actual responsibility to the State 
authorities. These institutions were emitting the actual currency of the 
United States ; a currency consisting of a paper, on which they neither 
paid interest nor principal, while it was exchanged for the paper of the 
community, on which both were paid. He saw these institutions in fact 
exercising what had been considered, at all times, and in all countries, one 
of the highest attributes of sovereignty, the regulation of the current me- 
dium of the country. They were no longer competent to assist the treas- 
ury in either of the great operations of collection, deposit, or distribution, 
of the public revenues. In fact, the paper which they emitted, and which 
the treasury, from the force of events, found itself constrained to receive, 
was constantly obstructing the operations of that department. For it 
would accumulate where it was not wanted, and could not be used where it 
was wanted for the purposes of government, without a ruinous and arbitrary 
brokerage. Every man who paid or received from the government, paid 
or received as much less than he ouodit to have done as was the difference 
between the medium in which the payment was effected and specie. 
Taxes were no longer uniform. In New England, where specie payments 
have not been suspended, the people were called upon to pay larger con- 
tributions than where they were suspended. In Kentucky as much more 
was paid by the people in their taxes than was paid, for example, in the 
State of Ohio, as Kentucky paper was worth more than Ohio paper. 

It appeared to Mr. Clay, that, in this condition of things, the general 
government could depend no longer upon these local institutions, multi- 
plied and multiplying daily ; coming into existence by the breath of eight- 
een State sovereignties, some of which by a single act of volition had 
created twenty or thirty at a time. Even if the resumption of specie pay- 
ments could have been anticipated, the general government remaining 
passive, it did not seem to him that the general government ought longer 
to depend upon these local institutions exclusively for aid in its operations. 
But he did not believe it could be justly so anticipated. It was not the 
interest of all of them that the renewal of specie payments should take 
place, and yet, without concert between all or most of them it could not be 



ON THE BANK QUESTION, 79 

effected. With regard to those disposed to return to a regular state of 
thino-s, great difficulties mio-ht arise as to the time of its commencement. 

Considering, then, that the state of the currency was such that no think- 
ing man could contemplate it without the most serious alarm ; that it 
threatened general distress, if it did not ultimately lead to convulsion and 
subversion of the government ; it appeared to him to be the duty of Con- 
gress to apply a remedy, if a remedy could be devised. A national bank, 
with other auxiliary measures, was proposed as that remedy. Mr. Clay 
said, he determined to examine the question with as little prejudice as 
possible arising from his former opinion. He knew that the safest course 
to him, if he pursued a cold, calculating prudence, was to adhere to that 
opinion, right or wrong. He was perfectly aware that if he changed, or 
seemed to change it, he should expose himself to some censure. But 
looking at the subject with the light shed upon it by events happening 
since the commencement of the war, he could no longer doubt. A bank 
appeared to him not only necessary, but indispensably necessary, in connec- 
tion with another measure, to remedy the evils of which all were but too 
sensible. He preferred to the suggestions of the pride of consistency the 
evident interests of the community, and determined to throw himself upon 
their candor and justice. That which appeared to him in 1811, under 
the state of things then existing, not to be necessary to the general gov- 
ernment, seemed now to be necessary, under the present state of things. 
Had he then foreseen what now exists, and no objection had lain against 
the renewal of the charter other than that derived from the Constitution, 
he should have voted for the renewal. 

Other provisions of the Constitution, but little noticed, if noticed at all, 
in the discussions in Congress in 1811, would seem to urge that body to 
exert all its powers to restore to a sound state the money of the country, 
lhat instrument confers upon Congress the power to coin money, and to 
regulate the valuo of foreign coins ; and the States are prohibited to coin 
money, to emit bills of credit, or to make any thing but gold and silver 
coin a tender in payment of debts. The plain inference is, that the sub- 
ject of the general currency was intended to be submitted exclusively to 
the general government. In point of fact, however, the regulation of the 
general currency is in the hands of the State governments, or, which is 
the same thing, of the banks created by them. Their paper has every 
quality of money, except that of being made a tender, and even this is 
imparted to it by some States, in the law by which a creditor must re- 
ceive it, or submit to a ruinous suspension of the payment of his debt. 
It was incumbent upon Congress to recover the control which it had lost 
over the general currency. The remedy called for, was one of caution 
and moderation, but of firmness. "Whether a remedy directly acting upon 
the banks and their paper thrown into circulation, was in the power of 
the general government or not, neither Congress nor the community were 
prepared for the application of such a remedy. An indirect remedy, of 



80 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

a milder character, seemed to be furnished by a national bank. Going 
into operation, with the powerful aid of the treasury of the United 
States, he believed it would be highly instrumental in the renewal of 
specie payments. Coupled with the other measure adopted by Congress 
for that object, he believed the remedy effectual. The local banks must 
follow the example which the national bank would set them, of redeem- 
ing their notes by the payment of specie, or their notes will be discredited 
and put down. 

If the Constitution, then, warranted the establishment of a bank, other 
considerations, beside those already mentioned, strongly urged it. The 
want of a general medium is everywhere felt. Exchange varies con- 
tinually, not only between different parts of the Union, but between dif- 
ferent parts of the same city. If the paper of a national bank were not 
redeemed in specie, it would be much better than the current paper, 
since, although its value in comparison with specie might fluctuate, it 
would afford a uniform standard. 

If political power be incidental to banking corporations, there ought, 
perhaps, to be in the general government some counterpoise to that which 
is exerted by the States. Such a counterpoise might not indeed be so nec- 
essary, if the States exercised the power to incorporate banks equally, or 
in proportion to their respective populations. But that is not the case. A 
single State has a banking capital equivalent, or nearly so, to one fifth of 
the whole banking capital of the United States. Four States combined, 
have the major part of the banking capital of the United States. In the 
event of any convulsion, in which the distribution of banking institutions 
might be important, it may be urged, that the mischief would not be 
alleviated by the creation of a national bank, since its location must be 
within one of the States. But in this respect the location of the bank is 
extremely favorable, being in one of the middle States, not likely from its 
position, as well as its loyalty, to concur in any scheme for subverting the 
government. And a sufficient security against such contingency is to be 
found in the distribution of branches in different States, acting and react- 
ing upon the parent institution, and upon each other. 



ON THE DIRECT TAX, AND THE STATE OF THE 
NATION AFTER THE WAR OF 1812, 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY, 1816. 

[After the war of 1812, the revenue of the government from 
the customs, and a small demand for the public lands, were found 
insufficient for the public expenditures, and to pay the interest 
on the public debt — a striking contrast to that plethoric con- 
dition of the national treasury which has characterized its con- 
dition of late years, since the difficulty has been, not to obtain a 
revenue, but how to employ it. A direct tax for national pur- 
poses, is always a delicate and obnoxious measure. But after 
the war of 1812, it became necessary ; hence a renewed attack 
by the opposition on the administration, for the war and the 
consequent increase of the public debt, the interest on which, at 
least, must be provided for by a prudent government. The 
terms of the peace, too, were assailed by the opposition. In this 
argument, Mr. Clay found himself assailed, as one of the Com- 
missioners at Ghent. We had gained nothing by the war, it was 
said — not even the abandonment, on the part of Great Britain, 
of the right of impressment, for which practice the war had been 
declared and prosecuted. For this reason, it was contended, we 
had gained nothing but disgrace and the war debt. It will be 
seen that these attacks of the opposition opened the broad 
question of the state of the country, and called on Mr. Clay to 
vindicate the results of the Commission at Ghent. The bug-bear 
of a standing army, was also brought into the arena, although it 
was not proposed to have more than ten thousand men for all 
our forts and frontiers. It was proposed by the opposition to 
reduce the army to four or five thousand. This Mr. Clay thought 
altogether inadequate. The variety of important questions dis- 
cussed in the following speech, growing out of the circumstances 
of the country at that time, and the bold and statesmanlike 
manner in which they are treated, constitute an historical epit- 
ome of great interest. We are instructed by it in these affairs, 

6 



82 SPEECHES OF HENRY OLAY. 

and the speech casts a light upon them which can nowhere else 
fee found. Mr. Clay never speaks without shedding the light of 
his own peculiar and practical views on the topics which he 
handles. We do not find much about taxes in this speech ; but 
we find a state of the country disclosed which would make the 
people content with the burden ; and that was the most im- 
portant practical result. It was important to give satisfactory 
reasons of silence as to the British claim of impressment ; and 
the result, down to this time, has shown that Mr. Clay was 
right. That claim has never been re-asserted, and never will be. 
It is dead. For all practical purposes, therefore, the main pur- 
pose of the war was achieved. To require a formal abandon- 
ment of the claim, which Great Britain had already ceased to 
exercise, since she had found that this country would never en- 
dure it, and which for the same reason she would never presume 
to attempt again, as was understood by the parties engaged in 
the negotiation, would have been supreme folly, considering the 
state of Europe at that time, when Great Britain, disengaged 
from her war on the Continent, was prepared to send all her 
forces, naval and military, against us. Her national pride, and 
perhaps her power, were concerned in maintaining the principle, 
though she never intended to reduce it to practice in relation to 
us. The Commissioners, therefore, wisely concluded to waive 
the question, knowing very well that we should never hear from 
it again, as we have not. It can not be denied, that Mr. Clay's 
vindication of the Commissioners was triumphant ; and so of the 
policy of the war. 

Mr. Clay strongly hints, in this speech, at that policy of pro- 
tecting Americn manufactures, of which he afterward became the 
leading advocate ; and he turns a sympathizing eye on the Spanish 
American Colonies, struggling for independence, suggesting that 
it might yet be the policy of the United States to aid them more 
effectually than by mere sympathy. Two years afterward he 
began to advocate a recognition of their independence. 

Internal improvements, by means of roads running through the 
entire line of the States, North and South, East and West, are 
also distinctly advocated in this speech — a project which after- 
ward so eminently distinguished Mr. Clay's political career. The 
net-work of railways, which now overlie the country, was not 
then foreseen. It was such works as the Cumberland road 
which Mr. Clay at this time had in his eye, and which was after- 
ward achieved by his sole influence in the national councils.] 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 83 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole), said, the course had been pur- 
sued, ever since he had the honor of a seat on this floor, to select some 
subject during the early part of the session, on which, by a general under- 
standing, gentlemen were allowed to indulge themselves in remarks on the 
existing state of public affairs. The practice was a very good one, he said, 
and there could be no occasion more proper than that of a proposition to 
lay a direct tax. 

Those who have for fifteen years past administered the affairs of this 
government, have conducted this nation to an honorable point of eleva- 
tion, at which they may justly pause, challenge a retrospect, and invite 
attention to the bright field of prosperity which lies before us. 

The great objects of the Committee of Finance, in the report under con- 
sideration, are, in the first place, to provide for the payment of the public 
debts, and in the second, to provide for the support of the government, 
and the payment of such expenses as should be authorized by Congress. 
The greater part of the debt, Mr. Clay admitted, had grown out of the late 
war ; yet a considerable portion of it consisted of that contracted in the 
former war for independence, and a portion of it, perhaps, of that which 
arose out of the wars with Tripoli and Algiers. Gentlemen had, on this 
occasion, therefore, fairly a right to examine into the course of administra- 
tion heretofore, to demonstrate the impolicy of those wars, and the inju- 
dieiousness of the public expenditures generally. In the cursory view 
which he should take of this subject, he must be allowed to say, he should 
pay no particular attention to what had passed before, in debate. 

An honorable colleague (Mr. Hardin) who spoke the other day, like 
another gentleman who preceded him in debate, had taken occasion to 
refer to his (Mr. Clay's) late absence from this country on public business ; 
but Mr. Clay said, lie trusted, among the fruits of that absence were a 
greater respect for the institutions which distinguish this happy country, a 
greater confidence in them, and an increased disposition to cling to them. 
Yes, sir, I was in the neighborhood of the battle of Waterloo, and some 
lessons I did derive from it ; but they were lessons which satisfied me, that 
national independence was only to be maintained by national resistance 
against foreign encroachments, by cherishing the interests of the people, 
and giving to the whole physical power of the country an interest in the 
preservation of the nation. I have been taught that lesson; that we 
should never lose sight of the possibility that a combination of despots, 
of men unfriendly to liberty, propagating what, in their opinion, constitutes 
the principle of legitimacy, might reach our happy land, and subject us 
to that tyranny and degradation which seems to be one of their objects in 
another country. The result of my reflections is, the determination to aid 
with my vote in providing my country with all the means to protect its 
liberties, and guard them even from serious menace. Motives of delicacy 
which the committee would be able to understand and appreciate, pre- 
vented him from noticing some of his colleague's (Mr. Hardin's) remarks ; 



84 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

but he would take the occasion to give him one admonition — that when he 
next favored the House with an exhibition of his talent for wit, with a dis- 
play of those elegant implements, for his possession of which the gentle- 
man from Virginia had so handsomely complimented him — that he would 
recollect that it is bought, and not borrowed wit which the adage recom- 
mends as best. With regard to the late war with Great Britain, history, 
in deciding upon the justice and policy of that war, will determine the 
question according to the state of things which existed when that war 
was declared. I gave a vote for the declaration of war. I exerted all 
the little influence and talents T could command to make the war. The 
war was made ; it is terminated ; and I declare with -perfect sincerity, if 
it had been permitted me to lift the vail of futurity, and to have foreseen 
the precise series of events which has occurred, my vote would have been 
unchanged. The policy of the war, as it regarded our state of preparation, 
must be determined with reference to the state of things at the time that 
war was declared. He need not take up the time of the House in demon- 
strating that we had cause sufficient for war. We had been insulted, and 
outraged, and spoliated upon by almost all Europe — by Great Britain, by 
France, Spain, Denmark, Naples, and, to cap the climax, by the little, 
contemptible power of Algiers. We had submitted too long and too 
much. We had become the scorn of foreign powers, and the contempt 
of our own citizens. The question of the policy of declaring war at the 
particular time when it was commenced is best determined by applying to 
the enemy himself ; and what said he? That of all the circumstances 
attending its declaration, none was so aggravating as that we should have 
selected the moment which, of all others, was most inconvenient to him, 
when he was struggling for self-existence in a last effort against the 
gigantic power of France ! The question of the state of preparation for 
war, at any time, is a relative question — relative to our own means, the 
condition of the other power, and the state of the world at the time of 
declaring it. We could not expect, for instance, that a war against Al- 
giers would require the same means or extent of preparation as a war 
against Great Britain ; and if it was to be waged against one of the 
primary powers of Europe, at peace with all the rest of the world, and 
therefore all her force at command, it could not be commenced with so 
little preparation as if her whole force were employed in another quarter. 
It is not necessary again to repel the stale, ridiculous, false story of French 
influence, originating in Great Britain, and echoed here. I now contend, 
as I have always done, that we had a right to take advantage of the con- 
dition of the world, at the time war was declared. If Great Britain were 
engaged in war, we had a right to act on the knowledge of the fact, that 
her means of annoyance, as to us, were diminished ; and we had a right 
to obtain all the collateral aid we could, from the operations of other 
powers against her, without entering into those connections which are for- 
bidden by the genius of our government. But it was rather like disturb- 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 85 

ing the ashes of the dead, now to discuss the questions of the justice or 
expediency of the war. They were questions long since settled, and on 
which the public opinion was decisively made up in favor of the adminis- 
tration. 

He proceeded to examine the conditions of the peace and the fruits of 
the war — questions of more recent date, and more immediately applicable 
to the present discussion. The terms of the peace must be determined by the 
same rule that was applicable to the declaration of war — that rule wbich was 
furnished by the state of the world at the time the peace was made ; and 
even if it were true that all the sanguine expectations which might have 
been formed at the time of the declaration of war, were not realized by 
the teims of the subsequent peace, it did not follow that the war was im- 
properly declared, or the peace dishonorable, unless the condition of the 
parties, in relation to other powers, remained substantially the same 
throughout the struggle, and at the time of the termination of the war, as 
it was at the commencement of it. At the termination of the war France 
was annihilated — blotted out of the map of Europe; the vast power 
wielded by Bonaparte existed no longer. Let it be admitted that states- 
men, in laying their course, are to look at probable events ; that their con- 
duct is to be examined with reference to the course of events which, in all 
human probability, might have been anticipated ; and is there a man in 
this House, in existence, who can say, that on the 18th day of June, 1812, 
when the war was declared, it would have been anticipated that Great 
Britain, by the circumstance of a general peace, resulting from the over- 
throw of a power whose basements were supposed to be deeper laid, more 
ramified, and more extended than those of any power ever were before, 
would be placed in the attitude in which she stood in December, 1814? 
Would any one say that this government could have anticipated such a 
state of things, and ought to have been governed in its conduct accord- 
ingly ? Great Britain, Russia, Germany, did not expect — not a power in 
Europe believed — as late even as January, 1814, that in the ensuing 
March, Bonaparte would abdicate, and the restoration of the Bourbons 
would follow. What then was the actual condition of Europe when peace 
was concluded? A perfect tranquillity reigned throughout ; for as late as 
the 1st of March, the idea of Napoleon's reappearing in France was as 
little enttitained as that of a man's coming from the moon to take upon 
himself the government of the country. In December, 1814, a profound 
and apparently a permanent peace existed ; Great Britain was left to dis- 
pose of the vast force, the accumulation of twenty-five years, the work of 
an immense system of finance and protracted war ; she was at liberty to 
employ that undivided force against this country. Under such circum- 
stances it did not follow, according to the rules laid down, either that the 
war ought not to have been made, or that peace on such terms ought not 
to have been concluded. 

What, then, were the terms of the peace ? The regular opposition in 



86 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

this country, the gentlemen on the other side of the House, had not come 
out to challenge an investigation of the terms of the peace, although they 
{had several times given a sidewipe at the treaty, on occasions with which 
it had no necessary connection. It had been sometimes said, that we had 
gained nothing by the war, that the fisheries were lost, etc. How, he 
asked, did this question of the fisheries really stand ? By the first part of 
the third article of the treaty of 1783, the right was recognized in the 
people of the United States to take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank, 
and on all the other banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, and at all other places in the sea, where the inhabitants of both 
countries used at any time to fish. This right was a necessary incident to 
our sovereignty, although it is denied to some of the powers of Europe. 
It was not contested at Ghent ; it has never been drawn in question by 
Great Britain. But by the same third article it was further stipulated, 
that the inhabitants of the United States shall have " liberty to take fish 
of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fisher- 
men shall use (but not to dry or cure the same on that island), and also 
on the coasts, bays, and creeks, of all other of his Britannic Majesty's 
dominions in America ; and that the American fishermen shall have liberty 
to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova 
Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain 
unsettled ; but so soon as the same or either of them shall be settled, it 
shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settle- 
ment, without a previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants, 
proprietors, or possessors of the ground." The British Commissioners, 
assuming that these liberties had expired by the war between the two 
countries, at an early period of the negotiation declared that they would 
not be revived without an equivalent. Whether the treaty of 1*783 does 
not form an exception to the general rule, according to which treaties are 
vacated by a war breaking out between the parties, is a question on which 
he did not mean to express an opinion. The first article of that treaty, by 
which the King of Great Britain acknowledges the sovereignty of the 
United States, certainly was not abrogated by the war ; that all the other 
parts of the same instrument, which define the limits, privileges, and 
liberties attaching to that sovereignty, were equally unaffected by the war, 
might be contended for with at least much plausibility. If we determined 
to offer them the equivalent required, the question was, what should it be? 
When the British Commissioners demanded, in their projet, a renewal to 
Great Britain of the right to the navigation of the Mississippi, secured by 
the treaty of 1783, a bare majority of the American Commissioners offered 
to renew it, upon the condition that the liberties in question were renewed 
to us. He was not one of that majority. He would not trouble the com- 
mittee with his reasons for being opposed to the offer. A majority of his 
colleagues, actuated he believed by the best motives, made, however, the 
offer, and it was refused by the British Commissioners. 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 87 

If the British interpretation of the treaty of 1783 be correct, we have 
lost the liberties in question. What the value of them really is, he had 
not been able to meet with any two gentlemen who agreed. The great 
value of the whole mass of our fishery interests, as connected with our 
navigation and trade, was sufficiently demonstrated by the tonnage em- 
ployed ; but of what was the relative importance of these liberties, there 
was great contrariety of statements. They were liberties to be exercised 
within a foreign jurisdiction, and some of them were liable to be destroyed 
by the contingency of settlement. He did not believe, that much import- 
ance attached to such liberties. Aud, supposing them to be lost, we are, 
perhaps, sufficiently indemnified by the redemption of the British mort- 
gage upon the navigation of the Mississippi. This great stream, on that 
supposition, is placed where it ought to be, in the same independent con- 
dition with the Hudson, or any other river in the United States. 

If, on the contrary, the opposite construction of the treaty of 1783 be 
the true one, these liberties remain to us, and the right to the naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi, as secured to Great Britain by that instrument, 
continues with her. 

But he was surprised to hear a gentleman from the western country 
(Mr. Hardin) exclaim, that we had gained nothing by the war. Great 
Britain acquired, by the treaty negotiated by Mr. Jay, the right to trade 
with the Indians within our territories. It was a right upon which 
she placed great value, and from the pursuit of which she did not desist 
without great reluctance. It had been exercised by her agents in a 
manner to excite the greatest sensibility in the western country. This 
right was clearly lost by the war ; for, whatever may be the true opinion 
as to the treaty of 1783, there can be no doubt that the stipulations of that 
of 1794 no lono-er exist. 

It had been said, that the great object in the continuation of the war, 
had been to secure our mariners against impressment, and that peace was 
made without accomplishing it. With regard to the opposition, he pre- 
sumed that they would not urge any such argument. For, if their opinion 
was to be inferred (though he hoped in this case it was not) from that of 
an influential and distinguished member of the opposition, we had reason 
to believe that thev did not think the British doctrines wronff on this 
subject. He alluded to a letter said to be written by a gentleman of 
great consideration, residing in an adjoining State, to a member of this 
House, in which the writer states that he conceives the British claim to 
be right, and expresses his hope that the president, however he might 
kick at it, would be compelled to swallow the bitter pill. If the peace 
had really given up the American doctrine, it would have been, according 
to that opinion, merely yielding to the force of the British right. In that 
view of the subject, the error of the administration would have been in 
contending for too much in behalf of this country; for he presumed 
there was no doubt that, whether right or wrong, it would be an important 



88 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

principle gained to secure our seamen against British impressment. And 
he trusted iti God that all future administrations would rather err on the 
side of contending for too much than too little for America. 

But he was willing to admit, that the conduct of the administration 
ought to be tried by their own opinions, and not those of the opposition. 
One of the great causes of the war, and of its continuance, was the prac- 
tice of impressment exercised by Great Britain, and if this claim has been 
admitted, by necessary implication or express stipulation, the administra- 
tion has abandoned the rights of our seamen. It was with utter aston- 
ishment that he heard that it had been contended in this country, that 
because our right of exemption from the practice had not been expressly 
secured in the treaty, it was therefore given up ! It was impossible that 
such an argument could be advanced on the floor. No member who re- 
garded his reputation would have dared advance such an argument here. 

Had the war terminated, the practice continuing, he admitted that such 
might be a fair inference ; and on some former occasion he had laid down 
the principle, which he thought correct, that if the United States did not 
make peace with Great Britain, the war in Europe continuing, and there- 
fore she continuing the exercise of the practice, without any stipulation to 
secure us against its effects, the plain inference would be, that we had sur- 
rendered the right. But what is the fact ? At the time of the conclusion 
of the treaty of peace, Great Britain had ceased the practice of impress- 
ment ; she was not only at peace with all the powers of Europe, but there 
was every prospect of a permanent and durable peace. The treaty being 
silent on the subject of impressment, the only plain rational result was, 
that neither party had conceded its rights, but they were left totally un- 
affected by it. He recollected to have heard in the British House of Com- 
mons, while he was in Europe, the very reverse of the doctrine advanced 
here on this subject. The British ministry were charged by a member of 
the opposition with having surrendered their right of impressment, and 
the same course of reasoning was employed to prove it, as, he understood, 
was employed in this country to prove our acquiescence in that practice. 
The argument was this : the war was made on the professed ground of 
resistance of the practice of impressment ; the peace having been made 
without a recognition of the right of America, the treaty being silent on 
the subject, the inference was that the British authorities had surrendered 
the right — that they had failed to secure it, and, having done so, had in 
effect yielded it. The member of the opposition in England was just as 
wrong as any member of this House would be, who should contend that 
the right of impressment is surrendered to the British government. The 
fact was, neither party had surrendered its rights ; things remain as though 
the war had never been made — both parties are in possession of all the 
rights they had anterior to the war. Lest it might be deduced that his 
sentiments on the subject of impressment had undergone a change, he took 
the opportunity to say, that, although he desired to preserve peace between 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 89 

Great Britain and the United States, and to maintain between them that 
good understanding calculated to promote the interest of each, yet, when- 
ever Great Britain should give satisfactory evidence of her design to ap- 
ply her doctrine of impressment as heretofore, he was, for one, ready to 
take up arms again to oppose her. The fact was, that the two nations 
had been placed in a state of hostility as to a practice growing out of 
the war in Europe. The war ceasing between Great Britain and the rest 
of Europe, left England and America engaged in a contest on an aggres- 
sion which had also practically ceased. The question had then presented 
itself, whether the United States should be kept in war, to gain an aban- 
donment of what had become a mere abstract principle; or, looking at 
the results, and relying on the good sense and sound discretion of both 
countries, we should not recommend the termination of the war. When 
no practical evil could result from the suspension of hostilities, aud there 
was no more than a possibility of the renewal of the practice of Impress- 
ment, I, as one of the mission, consented with sincere pleasure to the 
peace, satisfied that we gave up no right, sacrificed no honor, compromitted 
no important principle. He said, then, applying the rule of the actual 
state of things, as that by which to judge of the peace, there was nothing 
in the conditions or terms of the peace that was dishonorable, nothing for 
reproach, nothing for regret. 

Geutlemeu have complained that we had lost the islands in the bay of 
Passamaquoddy. Have they examined into that question, and do they 
know the grounds on which it stands ? Prior to the war we occupied 
Moose Island, the British, Grand Meuan. Each party claimed both islands ; 
America, because they are within the limits of the United States, as defined 
by the treaty of 1783 ; and Great Britain, because, as she alleges, they 
were in the exception contained in the second article of that treaty as to 
islands within the limits of the province of Nova Scotia. All the infor- 
mation which he had received concurred in representing Grand Meuan as 
the most valuable island. Does the treaty, in stipulating for an amicable 
and equitable mode of settling this controversy, yield one foot of the ter- 
ritory of the United States ? If our title to Moose Island is drawn in 
question, that of Great Britain to Grand Menan is equally so. If we may 
lose the one, she may the other. The treaty, it was true, contained a pro- 
vision that the party in possession, at the time of its ratification, may hold 
on until the question of right is decided. The committee would observe, 
that this stipulation, as to possession, was not limited to the moment of 
the signature, but looked to the period of the ratification of the treaty. 
The American Commissioners had thought they might safely rely on the 
valor of Massachusetts, or the arms of the United States, to drive the in- 
vader from our soil ; aud had also hoped that we might obtain possession 
of Grand Menan. It is true, they have been disappointed in the successful 
application of the force of that State and of that of the Union. But it is not 
true that we have parted with the right. It is fair to presume that Great 



90 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Britain will, with good faith, co-operate in carrying the stipulations into 
effect ; and she has, in fact, already promptly proceeded to the appointment 
of commissioners under the treaty. 

What have we gained by the war ? He had shown we had lost nothing 
in rights, territory, or honor ; nothing for which we ought to have con- 
tended, according to the principles of the gentlemen on the other side, or 
according to our own. Have we gained nothing by the war ? Let any 
man look at the degraded condition of this country before the war — the 
scorn of the universe, the contempt of ourselves — and tell me, if we have 
gained nothing by the war ? What is our present situation ? Respectabil- 
ity and character abroad ; security and confidence at home. If we have 
not obtained, in the opinion of some, the full measure of retribution, our 
character and Constitution are placed on a solid basis, never to be shaken. 
The glory acquired by our gallant tars, by our Jacksons and our Browns on 
the land, is that nothing ? True, we have had our vicissitudes — that there 
were humiliating events which the patriot could not review without 
deep regret. But the great account, when it came to be balanced, 
thank God, would be found vastly in our favor. Is there a man, he 
asked, who would have obliterated from the pages of our history the 
brilliant achievements of Jackson, Brown, Scott, and the host of heroes 
on land and sea whom he would not enumerate ? Is there a man who 
could not desire a participation in the national glory acquired by the 
war 2 — yes, national glory ; which, however the expression may be con- 
demned by some, must be cherished by every genuine patriot. What 
do I mean by national glory ? Glory such as Hull, of the Constitution. 
Jackson, Lawrence, Perry, have acquired. And are gentlemen insensible 
to their deeds ? to the value of them, in animating the country in the 
hour of peril hereafter 1 Did the battle of Thermopylae preserve Greece 
but once ? While the Mississippi continues to bear the tributes of the Iron 
mountains, and the Alleghany to her delta and to the Gulf of Mexico, the 
8th of January shall be remembered, and the glory of that day shall 
stimulate future patriots, and nerve the arms of unborn freemen, in driving 
the presumptuous invader from our country's soil. Gentlemen may boast 
of their insensibility to feelings inspired by the contemplation of such 
events. But he would ask, does the recollection of Bunker's hill, of Sar- 
atoga, of Yorktown, afford them no pleasure ? Every act of noble sacri- 
fice to the country — every instance of patriotic devotion to her cause — has 
its beneficial influence. A nation's character is the sum of its splendid 
deeds. They constitute one common patrimony — the nation's inheritance. 
They awe foreign powers. They arouse and animate our own people. Do 
gentlemen derive no pleasure from the recent transactions in the Mediterra- 
nean ? Can they regard unmoved the honorable issue of a war, in sup- 
port of our national rights, declared, prosecuted, and determined by a 
treaty in which the enemy submitted to a carte-blanche, in the short period 
of forty days ? The days of chivalry are not gone. They have been re- 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 91 

vived in tbe person of Commodore Decatur, who, in releasing from infidel 
bondage Christian captives — the subjects of a foreign power — and restor- 
ing them to their country and their friends, has placed himself beside the 
most renowned knights of former times. I love true glory. It is this 
sentiment which ought to be cherished ; and in spite of cavils and sneers 
and attempts to put it down, it will finally conduct this nation to that 
height to which God aud nature have destined it. Three wars, those who 
at the present administer this government may say, and say with proud 
satisfaction, they have safely conducted us through. Two with powers, 
which, though otherwise contemptible, have laid almost all Europe under 
tribute — a tribute from which we are exonerated. The third, with one of 
the most gigantic powers that the world ever saw. These struggles have 
not been without their sacrifices, nor without their lessons. They have 
created, or rather greatly increased, the public debt. They have thought, 
that, to preserve the character we have established, preparation for war is 
necessary. 

The public debt exists. However contracted, tbe faith of the nation is 
pledged for its redemption. It can only be paid by providing an excess 
of revenue beyond expenditure, or by retrenchment. Did gentlemen con- 
tend that the results of the report were inaccurate — that the proceeds of 
the revenue would be greater, or the public expense less than the estimate? 
On these subjects he believed it would be presumption in him, wdi^n the 
defense of the report was in such able hands (Mr. Lowndes's), to attempt 
its vindication. Leaving the task to that gentleman, he should assume, 
for the present, its accuracy .jf He would lay down a general rule, from 
which there ought never to De a departure without absolute necessity — 
that the expenses of the year ought to be met by the revenue of the 
year. If in time of war it were impossible to observe this rule, we 
ought, in time of peace, to provide for as speedy a discharge of the debt 
contracted in the preceding war as possible. \ This can only be done by 
an effective sinking-fund, based upon an excess of revenue beyond ex- 
penditure, and a protraction of the period of peace. If in England the 
sinking-fund had not fulfilled what was promised, it was because of a fail- 
ure to provide such a revenue, and because tbe intervals of peace in that 
countiy had been too few and too short. From the Revolution to 1812, a 
period of one hundred and twenty-four years, there had been sixty-three 
years of war, and only sixty-one of peace ; and there had been contracted 
£638,129,577 of debt, and discharged only £39,594,305. The national 
debt at the peace of Utretcht amounted to £52,681,076, and during the 
peace which followed, being about twenty-seven years, from 1714 to 1740, 
there was discharged only £7,231,503. When the operations of our sink- 
ing-fund were contrasted with those of Great Britain, they would be 
found to present the most gratifying results. Our public debt, existing on 
the 1st day of January, 1802, amounted to $78,754,568, 70 ; and on the 1st 
of January, 1815, we had extinguished §33,873,463 98. Thus in thirteen 



92 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

years, one half the period of peace that followed the treaty of Utrecht, we 
had discharged rnore public debt than Great Britain did during that period. 
In twenty-six years she did not pay much more than a seventh of her debt. 
In thirteen years we paid more than a third of ours. If, then, a public 
debt, contracted in a manner, he trusted, satisfactory to the country, im- 
posed upon us a duty to provide for its payment ; if we were encouraged, 
by past experience, to persevere in the application of an effective sinking- 
fund, he would again repeat, that the only alternatives were the adoption 
of a system of taxation producing the revenue estimated by the Committee 
of Ways and Means, or by great retrenchment of the public expenses. 

In what respect can a reduction of the public expenses be effected ? 
Gentlemen who assailed the report on this ground have, by the in- 
definite nature of the attack, great advantage on their side. Instead of 
contenting themselves with crying out retrenchment ! retrenchment ! a 
theme always plausible, an object always proper when the public interest 
will admit of it, let them point the attention of the House to some speci- 
fied subject. If they really think a reduction of the army and navy, or 
either of them, be proper, let them lay a resolution upon the table to that 
effect. They had generally, it is true, singled out, in discussing this re- 
port (and he had no objection to meet them in this way, though he thought 
the other the fairest course), the military establishment. He was glad 
that the navy had fought itself into favor, and that no one appeared dis- 
posed to move its reduction or to oppose its gradual augmentation. But 
the "standing army" is the great object of gentlemen's apprehensions. 
And those who can bravely set at defiance hobgoblins, the creatures of their 
own fertile imaginations, are trembling for the liberties of the people en- 
dangered by a standing army of ten thousand men. Those who can 
courageously vote against taxes are alarmed for the safety of the Constitu- 
tion and the country at such a force scattered over our extensive territory ! 
This could not have been expected, at least in the honorable gentleman 
(Mr. Ross), who, if he had been storming a fort, could not have displayed 
more cool, collected courage than he did, when he declared that he would 
show to Pennsylvania that she had one faithful representative bold and 
independent enough to vote against a tax ! 

He had happened, very incidentally, the other day, and in a manner 
which he had supposed could not attract particular attention, to state, that 
the general condition of the world admonished us to shape our measures 
with a view to the possible conflicts into which we might be drawn ; and 
he said, he did not know when he should cease of witness the attacks 
made upon him in consequence of that general remark ; when he should 
cease to hear the cry of " standing army," " national glory," etc., etc. 
From the tenor of gentlemen's observations, it would seem as if, for the 
first time in the history of this government, it was now proposed, that a 
certain reo-ular force should constitute a portion of the public defense. 
But from the administration of General Washington, down to this time, 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 93 

a regular force, a standing army (if gentlemen please), had existed, and 
the only question about it, at any time, had been, what should be the 
amount. Gentlemen themselves, who most loudly decry this establish- 
ment, did not propose an entire disbandment of it ; and the question, ever 
with them is, not whether a regular force be necessary, but whether a 
regular force of this or that amount be called for by the actual state 
of our affairs. 

The question is not, on any side of the House, as to the nature, but 
the quantum of the force. He maintained the position, that if there was the 
most profound peace that ever existed, if we had no fears from any quarter 
whatever, if all the world was in a state of the most profound and absolute 
repose, a regular force of ten thousand men was not too great for the 
purposes of this government. We knew too much, he said, of the vicis- 
situdes of human affairs, and the uncertainty of all our calculations, not 
to know that even in the most profound tranquillity, some tempest may 
suddenly arise, and bring us into a state requiring the exertion of military 
force, which can not be created in a moment, but requires time for its col- 
lection, organization, and discipline. When gentlemen talked of the force 
which was deemed sufficient some twenty years ago, what did they mean ? 
That this force was not to be progressive ? That the full-grown man 
ought to wear the clothes and habits of his infancy ? That the establish- 
ment maintained by this government, when its population amounted to four 
or five millions only, should be the standard by which our measures should 
be regulated, in all subsequent states of the country ? If gentlemen meant 
this, as it seemed to him they did, he and they should not agree. He con- 
tended that establishments ought to be commraensurate with the actual 
state of the country, should grow with its growth, and keep pace with its 
progress. Look at that map (said he, pointing to the large map of the 
United States, which hangs in the hall of Representatives) — at the vast 
extent of that country which stretches from the Lake of the Woods, in 
the north-west, to the Bay of Fundy, in the east. Look at the vast extent 
of our maritime coast ; recollect we have Indians and powerful nations 
coterminous on the whole frontier ; and that we know not at what mo- 
ment the savage enemy, or Great Britain herself, may seek to make war 
with us. Ought the force of the country to be graduated by the scale 
of our exposure, or are we to be uninfluenced by the increase of our lia- 
bility to war ? Have we forgotten that the power of France, as a coun- 
terpoise to that of Great Britain, is annihilated — gone, never to rise again, 
I believe, under the weak, unhappy, and imbecile race who now sway her 
destinies? Any individual must, I think, come to the same conclusion 
with myself, who takes these considerations into view, and reflects on our 
growth, the state of our defenses, the situation of the nations of the world, 
and above all, of that nation with whom we are most likely to come into 
collision ; for it is in vain to conceal it : this country must have many a 
hard and desperate tug with Great Britain, let the two governments be 



94 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

administered how and by whom they may. That man must be blind to 
the indications of the future, who can not see that we are destined to have 
war after war with Great Britain, until, if one of the two nations be not 
crushed, all grounds of collision shall have ceased between us. I repeat, 
if the condition of France were that of perfect repose, instead of that of 
a volcano, ready to burst out again with a desolating eruption ; if with 
Spain our differences were settled ; if the dreadful war raging in South 
America were terminated ; if the marines of all the powers of Europe were 
resuscitated as they stood prior to the revolution of France ; if there was 
universal repose, and profound tranquillity among all the nations of the 
earth ; considering the actual growth of our country, in my judgment, the 
force of ten thousand men would not be too great for its exigences. Do 
gentlemen ask, if I rely on the regular force entirely for the defense of the 
country ? I answer, it is for garrisoning and keeping in order our forti- 
fications, for the preservation of the national arms, for something like a safe 
depository of military science and skill, to which we may recur in time of 
danger, that I desire to maintain an adequate regular force. I know that 
in the hour of peril, our great reliance must be on the whole physical force 
of the country, and that no detachment of it can be exclusively depended 
on. History proves that no nation, not destitute of the military art, whose 
people were united in its defense, ever was conquered. It is true, that in 
countries where standing armies have been entirely relied on, the armies 
have been subdued, and the subjugation of the nation has been the con- 
sequence of it ; but no example is to be found of a united people being 
conquered, who possessed an adequate degree of military knowledge. 
Look at the Grecian republics, struggling successfully against the over- 
whelming force of Persia ; look more recently at Spain. I have great 
confidence in the militia, and I would go with my honorable colleague 
(Mr. M'Kee), whose views I know are honest, hand in hand, in arming, 
disciplining, and rendering effective, the militia. I am for providing the 
nation with every possible means of resistance. I ask my honorable col- 
league, after I have gone thus far with him, to go a step further with me, 
and let us retain the force we now have for the purposes I have already 
described. I ask gentlemen who propose to reduce the army, if they have 
examined in detail the number and extent of the posts and garrisons on 
our maritime and interior frontier ? If they have not gone through this 
process of reasoning, how shall we arrive at the result that we can reduce 
the army with safety ? There is not one of our forts adequately gar- 
risoned at this moment ; and there is nearly one fourth of them that have 
not one solitary man. I said the other day that I would rather vote for 
the augmentation than the reduction of the army. When returning to 
my country from its foreign service, and looking at this question, it ap- 
peared to me that the maximum was twenty thousand, the minimum ten 
thousand of the force we ought to retain. And I again say, that rather 
than reduce I would vote to increase the present force. 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 95 

A standing army had been deemed necessary from the commencement 
of the government to the present time. The question was only as to the 
quantum of force, and not whether it should exist. No man who regards 
his political reputation would place himself before the people on a proposi- 
tion for its absolute disbandment. He admitted a question as to quantum 
mio-ht be carried so far as to rise into a question of principle. If we were 
to propose to retain an army of thirty, or forty, or fifty thousand men, 
then truly the question would present itself, whether our rights were not 
in some danger from such a standing army ; whether reliance was to be 
placed altogether on a standing army, or on that natural safe defense 
which, according to the habits of the country and the principles of our 
government, is considered the bulwark of our liberties. But between five 
and ten thousand men, or any number under ten thousand, it could not be 
a question of principle ; for unless gentlemeu were afraid of specters, it 
was utterly impossible that any danger could be apprehended from ten 
thousand men dispersed on a frontier of many thousand miles ; here twenty 
or thirty, there a hundred, and the largest amount, at Detroit, not exceed- 
ing a thin regiment. And yet, brave gentlemen — gentlemen who are not 
alarmed at hobgoblins — who can intrepidly vote even against taxes — are 
alarmed by a force of this extent ! What, he asked, was the amount of 
the army in the time of Mr. Jefferson — a time, the orthodoxy of which 
had been so ostentatiously proclaimed ? It was true when that gentleman 
came into power it was with a determination to retrench, as far as practic- 
able. Under the full influence of these notions, in 1802, the bold step of 
wholly disbanding the army never was thought of. The military peace 
establishment was then fixed at about four thousand men. But, before Mr. 
Jefferson went out of power, what was done—that is, in April, 1808 ? In 
addition to the then existing peace establishment, eight regiments, amount- 
ing to between five and six thousand men, were authorized, making a total 
force precisely equal to the present peace establishment. It was true that 
all this force had never been actually enlisted and embodied ; that the re- 
cruiting service had been suspended ; and that at the commencement of 
the war we had far from this number ; and we have not now actually ten 
thousand men — being at least two thousand deficient of that number. 
He adverted to what had been said on this and other occasions of Mr. 
Jefferson's not having seized the favorable moment for war, which was af- 
forded by the attack on the Chesapeake. He had always entertained the 
opinion, he said, that Mr. Jefferson, on that occasion, took the correct, 
manly, and frank course, in saying to the British government, your officers 
have done this; it is an enormous aggression; do you approve the act? 
do you make it your cause, or not ? That government did not sanction 
the act ; it disclaimed it, and promptly, too ; and although they, for a 
long time, withheld the due redress, it was ultimately tendered. If Mr. 
Jefferson had used his power to carry the country into a war at that period, 
it might have been supported by public opinion, during the moment of 



96 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

fever, but it would soon abate, and the people would begin to ask, why 
this war had been made without understanding whether the British gov- 
ernment avowed the conduct of its officers, and so forth. If the threaten- 
ing aspect of our relations with England had entered into the considera- 
tion which had caused the increase of the army at that time, there were 
considerations equally strong at this time, with our augmented population, 
for retaining our present force. If, however, there were no threateninga 
from any quarter ; if the relative force of European nations, and the gen- 
eral balance of power existing before the French Revolution were restored ; 
if South America had not made the attempt, in which he trusted in God 
she would succeed, to achieve her independence ; if our affairs with Spain 
were settled, he would repeat, that ten thousand men would not be too 
great a force for the necessities of the country, and with a view to fu- 
ture emergences. 

He had taken the liberty, the other day, to make some observations 
which he might now repeat as furnishing auxiliary considerations for 
adopting a course of prudence and precaution. He had then said, that our 
affairs with Spain were not settled ; that the Spanish minister was re- 
ported to have made some inadmissible demands of our government. The 
fact turned out as he had presented it. It appeared that what was then 
rumor was now a fact ; and Spain had taken the ground, not only that 
there must be a discussion of our title to that part of Louisiana, formerly 
called West Florida (which it might be doubted whether it ought to take 
place), but had required that we must surrender the territory first, and dis- 
cuss the right to it afterward. Besides this unsettled state of our relations 
with Spain, he said, there were other rumors, and he wished to God we 
had the same means of ascertaining their correctness as we had found of 
ascertaining the truth of the rumor just noticed : it was rumored that the 
Spanish province of Florida had been ceded, with all her pretensions, to 
Great Britain. Would gentlemen tell him, then, that this was a time when 
any statesman would pursue the hazardous policy of disarming entirely, of 
quietly smoking our pipes by our firesides regardless of impending dan- 
ger ? It might be a palatable doctrine to some, but he was persuaded 
was condemned by the rules of conduct in private life, by those maxims 
of sound precaution by which individuals would regulate their private af- 
fairs. He did not here mean to take up the question in relation to South 
America. Still it was impossible not to see that, in the progress of things, 
we might be called on to decide the question, whether we would or would 
not lend them our aid. This opinion he boldly declared, and he enter- 
tained it, not in any pursuit of vain glory, but from a deliberate conviction 
of its being conformable to the best interests of the country ; that having 
a proper understanding with foreign powers — that understanding which 
prudence and a just precaution recommended — it would undoubtedly be 
good policy to take part with the patriots of South America. He believed 
it could be shown that, on the strictest principles of public law, we have 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 97 

a right to take part with them, that it is to our interest to take part with 
them, and that our interposition in their favor would be effectual. But he 
confessed, with infinite regret, that he saw a supineness on this iutf ..esting 
subject throughout our country, which left him almost without hope that 
what he believed the correct policy of the country would be pursued. 
He considered the release of any part of America from the dominion o f 
the Old World as adding to the general security of the New. He could 
not contemplate the exertions of the people of South America without wish- 
ing that they might triumph, and nobly triumph. He believed the cause 
of humanity would be promoted by the interposition of any foreign power 
which should terminate the contest between the friends and enemies of in- 
dependence in that quarter, for a more bloody and cruel war never had 
been carried on since the days of Adam, than that which is now raging 
in South America ; in which not the least regard is paid to the laws of 
war, to the rights of capitulation, to the rights of prisoners, nor even to 
the rights of kindred. I do not offer these views expecting to influence 
the opinions of others ; they are opinions of my own. But, on the ques- 
tion of general policy, whether or not we shall interfere in the war in 
South America, it may turn out that, whether we will or will not choose 
to interfere in their behalf, we shall be drawn into the contest in the 
course of its progress. Among other demands by the minister of Spain is 
the exclusion of the flag of Buenos Ayres, and other parts of South Amer- 
ica from our ports. Our government has taken a ground on this subject, 
of which I think no gentleman can disapprove — that all parties shall be 
admitted and hospitably treated in our ports, provided they conform to our 
laws while among us. What course Spain may take on this subject it 
was impossible now to say. Although I would not urge this as an ar- 
gument for increasing our force, I would place it among those consider- 
ations which ought to have weight, with every enlightened mind, in de- 
termining upon the propriety of its reduction. It is asserted that Great 
Britain has strengthened and is strengthening herself in the provinces adjoin- 
ing us. Is this a moment when, in prudence, we ought to disarm ? No, sir. 
Preserve your existing force. It would be extreme indiscretion to lessen it. 
Mr. Clay here made some observations, to show that a reduction of the 
army to from four to five thousand men, as had been suggested, would not 
occasion such a diminution of expense as to authorize the rejection of the 
report, or any essential alteration in the amount of revenue, which the sys- 
tem proposes to raise from internal taxes, and his colleague (Mr. M'Kee) 
appeared equally hostile to all of them. Having, however, shown that we 
can not in safety reduce the army, he would leave the details of the report in 
the abler hands of the honorable chairman (Mr. Lowndes), who, he had no 
doubt, could demonstrate, that with all the retrenchments which had been 
recommended, the government would be bankrupt in less than three years, 
if most of these taxes were not continued. He would now hasten to that 

7 



98 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

conclusion, at which the committee could not regret more than he did, that 
he had not lonjy since arrived. 

O 

As to the attitude in which this country should be placed, the duty of 
Congress could not be mistaken. My policy is to preserve the present 
force, naval and military ; to provide for the augmentation of the navy ; 
and, if the danger of war should increase, to increase the army also. Arm 
the militia, and give it the most effective character of which it is suscep- 
tible. Provide in the most ample manner, and place in proper depots, all 
the munitions and instruments of war. Fortify and strengthen the weak 
and vulnerable points indicated by experience. Construct military roads 
and canals, particularly from the Miami of the Ohio to the Miami of Erie ; 
from the Sciota to the bay of Sandusky ; from the Hudson to Ontario ; 
that the facilities of transportation may exist, of the men and means of 
the country, to points where they may be wanted. I would employ on 
this subject a part of the army, which should also be employed on our 
line of frontier, territorial and maritime, in strengthening the works of de- 
fense. I would provide steam batteries for the Mississippi, for Borgne and 
Ponchartrain, and for the Chesapeake, and for any part of the North or 
East, where they might be beneficially employed. In short, I would act 
seriously, effectively act, on the principle, that in peace we ought to pre- 
pare for war ; for I repeat, again and again, that, in spite of all the pru- 
dence exerted by the government, and the forbearance of others, the hour 
of trial will come. These halcyon days of peace, this calm will yield to 
the storm of war, and when that comes, I am for being prepared to breast 
it. Has not the government been reproached for the want of preparation 
at the commencement of the late war ? And yet the same gentlemen who 
utter these reproaches, instead of taking counsel from experience, would 
leave the country in an unprepared condition. 

He would as earnestly commence the great work, too long delayed, of 
internal improvement. He desired to see a chain of turnpike roads and 
canals, from Passamaquoddy to New Orleans ; and other similar roads in- 
tersecting the mountains, to faciliate intercourse between all parts of the 
country, and to bind and connect us together. He would also effectually 
protect our manufactories. We had given, at least, an implied pledge to 
do so, by the course of administration. He would afford them protection, 
not so much for the sake of the manufacturers themselves, as for the ffen- 
eral interest. We should thus have our wants supplied, when foreign re- 
sources are cut off, and we should also lay the basis of a system of taxation, 
to be resorted to when the revenue from imports is stopped by war. Such, 
Mr. Chairman, is a rapid sketch of the policy which it seems to me it be- 
comes us to pursue. It is for you now to decide whether we shall draw 
wisdom from the past, or, neglecting the lessons of recent experience, we 
shall go on headlong without foresight, meriting and receiving the re- 
proaches of the community. I trust, sir, notwithstanding the unpromising 
appearances sometimes presenting themselves, during the present session, 



ON THE DIRECT TAX. 99 

we shall yet do our duty. I appeal to the friends around me, with whom 
I have been associated for years in public life ; who nobly, manfully vin- 
dicated the national character by a war, waged by a young people, unskilled 
in arms, single-handed, against a veteran power — a war which the nation 
has emerged from, covered with laurels ; let us now do something to ame- 
liorate the internal condition of the country ; let us show that objects of 
domestic, no less than those of foreign policy, receive our attention ; let 
us fulfill the just expectations of the public, whose eyes are anxiously 
directed toward this session of Congress; let us, by a liberal and en- 
lightened policy, entitle ourselves, upon our return home, to that best of 
all rewards, the grateful exclamation, " Well done, thou good and faithful 
servant." 



ON THE BILL FOR ENFORCING NEUTRALITY, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 24, 1817. 

[This short speech is chiefly remarkable as Mr. Clay's debut for 
the independence of the American Spanish Colonies. The object 
of the bill before Congress was to prevent the building of armed 
vessels in our ports, and selling them to the South American 
States, which were then striving for independence. It was con- 
tended that this was a violation of our neutrality in relation to 
the parties in contest. Mr. Clay's sympathies were powerfully 
enlisted for these oppressed colonies of Spain, and although he 
would not advocate a violation of neutrality, he contended that 
our people had as good a right to build armed vessels to order, as 
to engage in any other foreign trade, and we were not responsible 
for the use that might be made of them. Such seems to have 
been the practice of our people from that time to this. It must 
be confessed, however, that this is not a perfectly clear question. 
If Mr. Clay's sympathies ever overpowered his judgment in plead- 
ing the cause of the oppressed, this, perhaps, was an instance. 
His heart, certainly, was in the right place.] 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole), said : As long as the govern- 
ment abstained from taking any part in the contest now carrying on in the 
southern part of this continent, it was unquestionably its duty to maintain 
a strict neutrality. On that point there was and could be no difference of 
opinion. It ought not, however, to be overlooked, that the two parties 
stood with this government on unequal ground. One of them had an ac- 
credited minister here, to watch over its interests, and to remonstrate 
against any acts of which it might complain ; while the other, being wholly 
unrepresented, had no organ through which to communicate its giievances. 
This inequality of condition in the contending parties, imposed upon us 
the duty of great circumspection and prudence in what we might do. 

Whenever a war exists, whether between two independent states or be- 
tween parts of a common empire, he knew of but two relations in which 
other powers could stand toward the belligerents ; the one was that of 
neutrality, and the other that of a belligerent. 



ON THE BILL FOR ENFORCING NEUTRALITY. 101 

Being then in a state of neutrality respecting the contest, and bound to 
maintain it, the question was, whether the provisions of the bill were nec- 
essary to the performance of that duty ? It will be recollected that we 
have an existing law, directed against armaments, such as are described in 
the bill. That law was passed in 1794. It was intended to preserve our 
neutrality in the contest between France and her enemies. The circum- 
stances under which it was passed, must be yet fresh in our recollection. 
The French revolution had excited a universal enthusiasm in the cause of 
liberty. The flame reached this country, and spread with electric rapidity 
throughout the continent. There was not a State, county, city or village, 
exempted from it. An ardent disposition to enter into the conflict, on the 
side of France, was everywhere felt. General Washington thought it 
the interest of this country to remain neutral, and the law of 1794 was 
enacted, to restrain our citizens from taking part in the contest. If that 
law had been effectual to preserve the neutrality of this country, during 
the stormy period of the French revolution, we ought to pause before we 
assent to the adoption of new penalties and provisions. If the law did not 
reach the case (which he understood to be doubtful from some judicial de- 
cisions), he was willing to legislate so far as to make it comprehend it. 
Further than that, as at present advised, he was not willing to go. 

But the present bill not only went further, but, in his judgment, con- 
tained provisions not demanded of us by our neutral duties. It contained 
two principles not embraced by the law of 1794. The first was, the requisi- 
tion of a bond from the owners of armed vessels, that persons, to whom 
they might sell these vessels, should not use them in the contest. The sec- 
ond was, the power vested in the collectors to seize and detain, under cer- 
tain circumstances, any such vessels. Now, with regard to the first pro- 
vision, it is not denied that an armed vessel may be lawfully sold by an 
American citizen to a foreign subject, other than a subject of Spain. But 
on what ground is it possible, then, to maintain, that it is the duty of the 
American citizen to become responsible for the subsequent use which may 
be made of such vessel by the foraign subject ? We are bound to take 
care that our own citizens do not violate our neutrality, but we are under 
no such obligation as it respects the subjects of foreign powers. It is the 
business of those foreign powers to guard the conduct of their own sub- 
jects. If it be true, as he heard it asserted, that Fell's Point exhibits an 
activity in hostile preparation, not surpassed during the late war, we had 
enough to do with our own citizens. It was not incumbent upon us, as a 
neutral power, to provide, after a legal sale had been made of an armed 
vessel to a foreign subject, against any illegal use of the vessel. 

Gentlemen have contended, that this bill ought to be considered as in- 
tended merely to enforce our own laws ; as a municipal regulation, having 
no relation to the war now existing. It was impossible to deceive our- 
selves, as to the true character of the measure. Bestow on it what denom- 
ination you please, disguise it as you may, it is a law, and will be under- 



102 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

stood by the whole world as a law, to discountenance any aid being given 
to the South American colonies in a state of revolution against the parent 
country. With respect to the nature of that struggle, he had now, for 
the first time, to express his opinion and his wishes. An honorable gen- 
tleman from Virginia (Mr. Sheffey) had said, the people of South America 
were incapable, from the ignorance and superstition which prevail among 
them, of achieving independence or enjoying liberty. And to what cause 
is that ignorance and superstition owing ? Was it not to the vices of their 
government ? to the tyranny and oppression, hierarchical and political, 
under which they groaned ? If Spain succeeded in riveting their chains 
upon them, would not that ignorance and superstition be perpetuated ? In 
the event of that success, he feared the time would never arrive, when the 
good wishes of the honorable gentleman from Virginia would be conciliated 
in behalf of that oppressed and suffering people. For his part, he wished 
their independence. It was the first step toward improving their condi- 
tion. Let them have free government, if they be capable of enjoying it ; 
but let them have, at all events, independence. Yes, from the inmost re- 
cesses of my soul, I wish them independence. I may be accused of an 
imprudent utterance of my feelings, on this occasion. I care not ; when 
the independence, the happiness, the liberty of a whole people, is at stake, 
and that people our neighbors, our brethren, occupying a portion of the 
same continent, imitating our example, and participating of the same sym- 
pathies with ourselves, I will boldly avow my feelings and my wishes in 
their behalf, even at the hazard of such an imputation. 

But, notwithstanding the feelings which he cherished on this subject, 
Mr. Clay admitted that it became us not to exhibit the spectacle of a peo- 
ple at war and a government at peace. We ought to perform our neutral 
duties, while we are neutral, without regard to the unredressed injuries in- 
flicted upon us by old Spain on the one hand, or to the glorious object of 
the struggle of the South American patriots on the other. We ought to 
render strict justice, and no more. If the bill on the table was limited to 
that object, he would vote for it. But he thought it went further ; that it 
assumed obligations which we were not bound to incur, a_id, thinking so, 
he could not, in its present shape, give to it his assent. 



ON COMMERCIAL RESTRICTIONS WITH THE 
BRITISH WEST INDIES 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 30, 1817. 

[A commercial convention between Great Britain and the 
United States, had been so carelessly agreed to on our part, that 
Great Britain was able to prohibit our trade with her West 
India Islands, so far as that it should be exclusively carried on 
in her own bottoms ; and this trade amounted to six millions 
of dollars annually, on each side— in all twelve millions. It was 
obviously unjust, in its operation, on the navigation of the 
United States, and threw us out, as carriers, of a foreign trade 
of six millions a-year. It became a profound study of American 
statesmen how to recover this obvious right, whether to impose 
heavy duties on our imports from the British West Indies, or to 
enact a total prohibition. The subject was much discussed in 
1816, on a resolution ; and came up again in 1817, in the shape of 
a bill, when Mr. Clay made the following speech in Committee of 
the Whole. The bill proposed " to prohibit all commercial in- 
tercourse with ports or places into or with which the vessels of 
the United States are not ordinarily permitted to enter or 
trade." Mr. Clay was in favor of the bill, first, because high 
duties on imports from these places, would be effectual only as 
they approximated to prohibition ; and secondly, because we 
would still have the same trade through islands belonging to 
other powers, and have our share of the carrying ; and this 
would bring Great Britain to terms. The bill, however, failed.] 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole), said, that in one sentiment ex- 
pressed by the gentleman from Georgia he most heartily concurred : that 
the measure contemplated by the bill, or by the proposed substitute, was 
the most important, as respected at least our foreign relations, that had 
come before Congress at this session, or would probably be brought before 
it for some years — a measure which, whatever fate attended it, ought to 



104 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

attract the attention of honorable members of this House, and to which he 
hoped, before the fiual question on it, they would give the most mature 
consideration. 

The importance of the question by no means depended simply on the 
value of the trade between this country and the colonies of Great Britain. 
But considering the question as it related merely to that trade, when the 
fact was stated, that it consisted of six millions of dollars imports, and of 
course a like amount of exports, it must be admitted the question was one 
of deep import, compared to any which at present presented itself to the 
attention of Congress. But, as was stated in the president's message, it 
was not solely important on account of the effect of the colonial system 
on that trade, but the fact was, that the exclusion from a participation in 
that navigation, essentially affected the trade between this country and the 
British European possessions, and, by the operation of the system, de- ■* 
prived us, in a great measure, of the benefits of the convention of com- 
merce with Great Britain, which provided for the establishment of a per- .,■ 
feet reciprocity of commerce between the United States and the British 
European possessions. Even if gentlemen were not disposed to do some- 
thing to obtain for the navigation of this country a participation in the 
colonial trade, they ought to go so far as to place it on an equal foot- 
ing as regarded the European trade. Some measure ought to be devised, 
by which the navigation of Great Britain should be prevented from enjoy- 
ing peculiar advantages over us, in a trade wherein reciprocity had been 
solemnly promised by the convention to which he had alluded. 

Let us, then, inquire into the character of the evil proposed to be rem- 
edied, and of the remedy that is offered. What is the evil ? Great 
Britain says that the whole commerce between her colonies and the United 
States shall be carried on in British ships, absolutely excluding American 
ships from any participation in it. The most natural course of the ex- 
change of commodities between nations mii^ht be thus defined : that each 
nation should carry its own products to market ; that we should carry of 
our produce what we do not want, but they do, to British ports ; and that 
they should bring what they do not want, but we do, to our ports. With 
this course, however, Great Britain was not satisfied. The next and per- 
haps the most equal and best mode of providing for the free and fair 
interchange of commodities, was to open the trade equally and recipro- 
cally to both parties, to let each carry the commodities of both countries, 
in a fair competition. Great Britain was not, however, disposed to do 
this. She not only prohibited the carriage of her colonial commodities 
in our vessels ; not only entirely engrossed the export trade from her col- 
onies, but refused to allow us any participation, by conventional regula- 
tion or otherwise, in the trade to the colonies. The effect was, to deprive 
us of the advantages, in the augmentation of our commerce and increase 
of our seamen, which would result from the carriage of our own produce, 
to the amount of six millions of dollars annually. 



ON COMMERCIAL RESTRICTIONS. 105 

With regard to the importance of encouraging our navigation, he said, 
he need not resort to argument. The question of the importance of a 
navy, to maintain and defend our rights, which had been some years ago 
a question of a theoretical nature, was no longer so ; it was now a question 
of practical experience. All felt its importance and all acknowledged the 
expediency of cherishing, by all means in our power, that important branch 
of national defense. 

Gentlemen alarmed themselves by the apprehension that the other party 
would view as inimical any regulations countervailing her colonial policy, 
and that the issue of this conflict of commercial regulations would be 
war. He believed in no such result. If an exclusion of the navigation 
and shipping of Great Britain from our ports be a measure of a hostile 
character, said Mr. Clay, Great Britain has set us the example ; for she 
excludes our navigation and shipping from an extensive range of her ports. 
He considered this rather as a diplomatic than a hostile measure ; but, if 
it were otherwise, she had set the example, which she could not complain 
if we followed. 

But, said he, let us look to the fact. What would be the light in which 
Great Britain would view any such regulations as are proposed by the bill ? 
The convention of London contains an express stipulation on the subject ; 
and I will observe to gentlemen, that the clause which exempts the colonial 
trade from the second article of the convention, was introduced with the 
express view of retaining in our hands the right to countervail the British 
regulations in this respect. It was so understood by the framers of that 
convention. But we have later evidence than that which is furnished by 
the terms of the convention. The president, in his message at the opening 
of the session, says, that it is ascertained, " that the British government 
declines all negotiation on this subject ; ivith a disavowal, however, of any 
disposition to view in an unfriendly light, whatever countervailing regula- 
tions the United States may oppose to the regulation of which they com- 
plain." Thus, then, we have evidence, both from the nature of the case, 
and from the express declarations of the British government, that it will 
not, because it can not, view in an unfriendly light any regulations which 
this government may find it expedient to adopt, to countervail their policy. 
Mr. Clay said, he did not think that the adoption of this policy on the part 
of Great Britain, ought to excite any hostile feeling toward her. She was 
not singular in this respect. Every country that has colonies in the West 
Indies, and which is not too weak to defend them, endeavored, he said, to 
appropriate to itself all the advantages of the trade with those colonies ; 
and it would be found that the relaxation of the rigor of that system by 
one nation or auother, was precisely graduated by the degree of ability to 
maintain their colonies in peace, and defend them in war. There was 
nothing in the regulations of Great Britain, which could be offensive, or 
possibly lead to war. They might be complained of as selfish or unfriendly, 
they certainly were the former. But Great Britain had a perfect right to 



106 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

set the example before us ; and the question was, whether the total exclusion 
of our ships fiom the colonial ports of Britain, was such a measure as we 
ouii'ht to fold our arms and submit to, without an effort to obtain some part 
of the trade which she had attempted to appropriate exclusively to herself? 

Gentlemen had properly said, that this was a question which ought to 
be well weighed before decided. Whatever we do, it ought to be with a 
determination to adhere firmly to it. For, depend upon it, Great Britain 
will never lightly relax her policy. 

The policy of Great Britain was deeply laid in selfish considerations ; a 
policy which she had never relaxed, except in periods of war, when it be- 
came her interest to do so, from the commencement of her colonies to 
this time. The measure which we address to her interest, to induce her 
to relax from the rigor of her colonial policy, should be a measure framed 
with ample deliberation, which, when we adopt with resolution, we will 
maintain with fortitude. For, the first conclusion of the British govern- 
ment would undoubtedly be, that the American government would be in- 
capable of maintaining its regulations for any length of time ; and that 
government in the expectation of a retraction of the measure, would per- 
severe in its policy as long as it could. 

The question which presents itself, then, is, whether we will adopt meas- 
ures to induce a relaxation so desirable to our interest ? 

What ought to be done, if any thing is ? There were two propositions 
before the House, and the question now was, on substituting high duties 
for the prohibitory system. He preferred the prohibition ; and if any 
gentleman would candidly compare the merits of the two proposed reme- 
dies, he would find that the whole value of the remedy, by the imposition 
of duties, was derived from its approximation to prohibition. 

Suppose the measure of prohibition be adopted, what would be its effect ? 
In the opinion of Mr. Clay, a mere change in the direction of the trade. 
St. Domingo would be opened to us, St. Thomas, Vera Cruz, and possibly 
St. Bartholomews, and other islands and ports. But, if not one port 
should be open, the necessity Great Britain would be under, to obtain sup- 
plies for her colonies, would dictate the expediency of opening some port 
at which an interchange of commodities could take place. If this opera- 
tion took place, all that is proposed to be effected by the bill is accom- 
plished, by the participation of our navigation in the transportation of the 
articles thus exchanged. Our ships will have obtained an employment, in 
carrying our products to that entrepot, and bringing return cargoes, of the 
same amount they would have now, if American, instead of British ships, 
wholly engrossed the trade. There might, in the case supposed, be some 
little increase in the cost of the articles, but so inconsiderable, as not to 
amount to any offset to the great advantages accruing to this country, from 
the employment of its tonnage. 

The present moment Mr. Clay considered as particularly propitious to 
the adoption of this regulation ; because, as regarded the great direct 
trade between the United States and British ports in Europe, that was reg- 



ON COMMERCIAL RESTRICTIONS. 107 

ulated and unalterable for nearly three years. It stood on the footing of 
convention ; and we should not, by any regulation adopted in regard to 
the colonial trade, put to hazard the advantages in the other, at least until 
that convention expired. 

Regarding this regulation in another view, he anticipated beneficial 
effects from it. In consequence of the weakness of some of the powers 
of Europe in their maritime force, they had found it convenient to open 
ports to us, which were formerly shut, and we could thence draw our sup- 
plies, thus effecting a mere change in the channel of supply with the ad- 
vantage of the employment of our own navigation, as already stated. 
South America, besides, would be open to us, and we could there obtain a 
large portion of the commodities we import from the West Indies, except, 
perhaps, the article of rum. Whether that could be obtained there or not, 
he did not know. Sugar might be obtained, in quantity, from Louisiana, 
where the product of that article increased every year. Georgia, and a 
portion of South Carolina, too, had turned their attention to that object ; 
and the effect of this measure would be. to encourao-e the cultivation of 

7 O 

that article. With respect to the article of spirits, if its importation 
were totally cut off, he thought it would be a benefit. He believed, he 
said, that America was the only country that imported as great a quantity 
of spirituous liquors ; every other country he was acquainted with, used 
more of its own manufacture. 

I think that the suffering of the navigating interest, to which the atten- 
tion of Congress is attracted, is one which calls loudly on this body to do 
something to alleviate it. It is attributable greatly to the colonial system 
of Great Britain, though no doubt also greatly to the state of peace, and 
the consequent resumption of their navigation by the powers of Europe, 
who, during war, suspended a great proportion of it. Taking care of the 
interests of the nation, and guarding our commerce against the effect of 
foreign regulations, it becomes us to act on this subject. lie should, he 
said, cheerfully give his assent, therefore, to the bill before the House ; and 
should vote for it, but with reluctance, if the amendment proposed by Mr. 
Forsyth should succeed. 

The great question was, the modus operandi of this bill, to use a favorite 
expression of a member of another body. Operating on the sympathy as 
well as the direct interest of the parent country, it would induce her to 
relax her system. Great Britain would find a greater interest in securing 
the amount of six millions of trade, necessary to support and cherish her 
colonies, than she would gain merely on the transportation of the articles 
of which that trade consists. That was the question on which the British 
peoj)le would be called on to decide ; and he believed the effect of this 
measure would be such as to induce them to decide in favor of admitting 
us, on a footing of reciprocity, into the West India trade. If the British 
government did not take this course, it would have to wink at the forma- 
tion of entrepots, by which the object proposed by the bill would be sub- 
stantially accomplished. 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 4, 1811. 

[It was proposed by a bill introduced into the Fourteenth 
Congress, 1816-17, to set apart, as a fund for internal improve- 
ment, the bonus granted to the United States by the national 
bank, and the dividend accruing from the United States' shares 
in said bank ; and the bill was passed by both Houses of Con- 
gress, but was, unexpectedly, vetoed by President Madison, on 
constitutional grounds. This veto proved the beginning of ob- 
stacles of this kind, interposed by Virginia abstractions, to many 
other similar measures, afterward brought forward by Mr. Clay 
and his associates, for internal improvement. It is remarkable 
that the Hon. John C. Calhoun was in company with Mr. Clay 
at this time, on this subject. So also on the Bank question in 
1816, Mr. Calhoun himself, reported the Bank bill of that year, 
and advocated and voted for it. But the change which came 
over his dreams after that, is very notorious, both as regards a 
national bank and internal improvements. The following short 
speech of Mr. Clay is among his first efforts in this great cause. 
The Cumberland road was already on its way to the great West, 
and Mr. Clay, as will be seen, contemplated a similar enterprise 
along the Atlantic coast, from Maine to Georgia. It is well 
enough, perhaps, that it was never undertaken, as our modern 
railway system has superseded its necessity. But the project, as 
announced, illustrates the genius, as well as the patriotic zeal, 
of Mr. Clay. He was right in his grand conception, though the 
mode of its accomplishment could not then be foreseen.] 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole) obsei'ved, that it was not his in- 
tention to enter into the general discussion of the subject ; he -wished 
only to say, that he had long thought that there were no two subjects 
which could engage the attention of the national Legislature, more worthy 
of its deliberate consideration, than those of internal improvements and 
domestic manufactures. 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 109 

As to the constitutional point which had been made, he had not a doubt 
on his mind ; but it was not necessary, in his judgment, to embarrass the 
passage of the bill with the argument of that point at this time. It was 
a sufficient answer to say, that the power was not now to be exercised. It 
was proposed merely to designate the fund, and from time to time, as the 
proceeds of it came in, to invest them in the funded debt of the United 
States. It would thus be accumulating ; and Congress could, at some 
future day, examine into the constitutionality of the question, and if it has 
the power, it would exercise it ; if it has not, the Constitution, there could 
be very little doubt, would be so amended as to confer it. It was quite 
obvious, however, that Congress might so direct the application of the 
fund, as not to interfere with the jurisdiction of the several States, and 
thus avoid the difficulty which had been started. It might distribute it 
among those objects of private enterprise which called for national patron- 
age in the form of subscriptions to the capital stock of incorporated com- 
panies, such as that of the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, and other 
similar institutions. Perhaps that might be the best way to employ the 
fund ; but, he repeated, this was not the time to go into their inquiry. 

With regard to the general importance of the proposition, the effect of 
internal improvements in cementing the Union ; in facilitating internal trade; 
in augmenting the wealth and the population of the country ; he would 
not consume the time of the committee in discussing those interesting 
topics, after the able manner in which they had been treated by his friend 
from South Carolina. In reply to those who thought that internal im- 
provements had better be left to the several States, he would ask, he 
would put it to the candor of every one, if there were not various objects 
in which many States were interested, and which, requiring therefore their 
joint co-operation would, if not taken up by the general government, be 
neglected, either for the want of resources, or from the difficulty of regulat- 
ing their respective contributions. Such was the case with the improve- 
ment of the navigation of the Ohio at the rapids ; the canal from the 
Hudson to the Lakes ; the great turnpike road, parallel with the coast from 
Maine to Louisiana. These, and similar objects, were stamped with a 
national character, and they required the wisdom and the resources of the 
nation to accomplish them. No particular, State felt an individual in- 
terest sufficient to execute improvements of such magnitude. They must 
be patronized, efficaciously patronized, by the general government, or they 
never would be accomplished. 

The practical effect of turnpike roads in correcting the evil, if it be one, 
of the great expansion of our republic, and in conquering space itself, as 
was expressed by the gentleman from South Carolina, is about to be de- 
monstrated by the great turnpike-road from Cumberland to Wheeling. 
That road is partially executed, and will probably be completed in about 
three years. In the mean time, Maryland is extending a line of turnpike- 
roads from Baltimore to Cumberland, which is also partially finished, and 



110 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

will be completed in the same period. Three years from the present time 
we shall have a continued line of turnpike roads from Baltimore to Ohio. 
The ordinary time requisite to travel from Wheeling to Baltimore, prior to 
the erection of these roads, was eight days. When the roads are com- 
pleted the same journey may be performed in three days. The distance, 
in effect, between these two points, will be diminished in the proportion 
of five eighths, or, in other words, they will be brought five days nearer to 
each other. Similar results will follow wherever this species of improve- 
ment is effected. 

Mr. Clay owned that he felt anxiously desirous for the success of this 
measure. He was anxious, from its intrinsic merits ; from his sincere con- 
viction of its tendency greatly to promote the welfare of our common 
country. He was anxious from other, perhaps more selfish considerations. 
He wished the Fourteenth Congress^to have the merit of laying the founda- 
tions of this great work. He wished this Congress who, in his opinion, 
had so many other just grounds for the national approbation, notwith- 
standing the obloquy which had attended a single unfortunate measure, to 
add this new claim to the public gratitude. 



ON THE WAR BETWEEN SPAIN AND HER 

COLONIES, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 3, 1817. 

[President Monroe, in his opening Message to the Fifteenth 
Congress, 1817, had noticed, among other topics, the obligations 
of neutrality on the part of the United States toward Spain and 
her American Colonies. The first resolution in answer to the 
President's Message, brought forward in Committee of the 
Whole, related to this subject ; and Mr. Clay moved and sup- 
ported the following amendment : " And that the said Commit- 
tee be instructed to inquire whether any, and if any, what, 
provisions of law are necessary to insure to the American 
Colonies of Spain, a just observance of the duties incidental to 
the neutral relation in which the United States stand in the 
existing war between them and Spain." It would seem that 
the courts of the United States had been employed by the agents 
of Spain to annoy the officers and agents of the Spanish Colonies 
when found within the jurisdiction of the United States, which 
was obviously a violation of neutrality between the two belliger- 
ent parties. Mr. Clay desired, at least, that both parties should 
be treated alike, and that Spain should have no advantage in 
our courts over the officers and agents of her rebellious provinces. 
If, therefore, our laws were defective, in reference to this object, 
he wished to have them amended. Mr. Clay's sympathies were 
on the side of the Colonies ; but he asked nothing for them but 
justice. He wished them to be recognized as a belligerent party, 
to whom we were under the same obligations as to Spain, in the 
observance of neutrality. Hence the speech given below.] 

Mr. Clay (in Committee of the Whole) said, that his presenting, at so 
early a period of the session, this subject to the consideration of the 
House was in consequence of certain proceedings which he had seen rep- 
resented in the public prints as having taken place before certain of our 



112 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

courts of justice. Two or three cases bearing on this subject had come to 
his knowledge, which he wished to state to the House. The first had oc- 
curred at Philadelphia, before the circuit court of the United States held 
in that city. The circumstances of the case, for which, however, he did 
not pretend to vouch, having received them through the channel already 
indicated, were these : if they were incorrectly stated, he was happy that 
a gentleman had taken his seat this morning from that city who would be 
able to correct him ; that nine or ten British disbanded officers had formed 
in Europe the resolution to unite themselves with the Spanish patriots in 
the contest existing between them and Spain ; that to carry into effect this 
intention they had sailed from Europe, and in their transit to South 
America had touched at the port of Philadelphia; that during their resi- 
dence in Philadelphia, wearing, perhaps, the arms and habiliments of 
military men, making no disguise of their intention to participate in the 
struggle, they took passage in a vessel bound to some port in South 
America ; that a knowledge of this fact having come to the ears of the 
public authorities, or, perhaps, at the instigation of some agent of the 
Spanish government, a prosecution was commenced against these officers, 
who, from their inability to procure bail, were confined in prison. If, said 
Mr. Clay, the circumstances attending this transaction be correctly stated, 
it becomes an imperious duty in the House to institute the inquiry con- 
templated by the amendment which I have proposed. That this was an 
extraordinary case was demonstrated by the fiict of the general sensation 
which it had excited on the subject in the place where it had occurred. 
Filled, as that respectable and populous city is, with men who differ 
widely on political topics, and entertaining various views of public affairs, 
but one sentiment prevailed on this subject, which was favorable to the 
persons thus arraigned. With regard to the conduct of the court on this 
occasion be would say nothing. The respect which, while he had a seat 
on this floor, he should always show to every branch of the government, 
the respect be entertained for the honorable judge who had presided, for- 
bade him from pronouncing the decision of that court to have been un- 
warranted by law. But he felt himself perfectly sustained in saying, that 
if the proceeding was warranted by the existing law, it was the imperious 
duty of Congress to alter the law in this respect. For what, he asked, 
was the neutral obligation which one nation owed to another engaged in 
war? The essence of it is this: that the belligerent means of the neutral 
shall not be employed in the war in favor of either of the parties. That 
is the whole of the obligation of a third party in a war between two 
others ; it certainly does not require of one nation to restrain the belliger- 
ent means of other nations. If those nations choose to permit their means 
to be employed in behalf of either party, it is their business to look to it, 
and not ours. Let the conduct of the persons prosecuted be regarded in 
the most unfavorable light ; let it be considered as the passage of troops 
through our country, and there was nothing in our neutral obligations 



ON THE WAR BETWEEN SPAIN AND HER COLONIES. 113 

forbidding it. The passage of troops through a neutral country, accord- 
ing to his impressions, was a question depending on the particular interest, 
quiet, or repose of the country traversed, and might be granted or refused 
at its discretion, without in any degree affecting the obligation of the 
neutral to either parties engaged in the controversy. But, surely, this was 
not a case of the passage of troops ; the persons apprehended not being 
sufficient in number, nor organized or equipped in such a manner as, under 
any construction, to constitute a military corps. On this case he would 
detain the committee no longer, he said, for he was satisfied they could 
not but agree with him, if the law justified the proceeding that had taken 
place, that law ought to be immediately amended. Other cases had oc- 
curred in which, it appeared to him, it became the Congress to interpose 
its authority. Persons sailing under the flag of the provinces had been 
arraigned in our courts, and tried for piracy ; in one case, after having 
been arraigned, tried, and acquitted of piracy, the same individuals, on the 
instigation of a Spanish officer or agent, had been again arraigned for the 
same offense. The gentleman from Massachusetts would correct him if 
he was wrong, for the case had occurred in the town of Boston. 

We admit the flag of these colonies into our ports ; we profess to be 
neutral ; but if our laws pronounce, that the moment the property and per- 
sons under that flag enter our ports, they shall be seized, the one claimed 
by the Spanish minister or consul as the property of Spain, and the other 
prosecuted as pirates, that law ought to be altered, if we mean to perform 
our neutral professions. I have brought this subject before this committee 
thus promptly, because I trust that here the cause will find justice ; that, 
however treated elsewhere, on this floor will be found a guardian interest 
attending to our performance of the just obligations of neutrality. Hith- 
erto, he said, whatever might have been our intentions, our acts had been 
all on the other side. From the proclamation of 1815, issued to terminate 
an expedition supposed to be organizing in Louisiana, an expedition only 
in the mind of Chevalier de Onis, down to the late act — whether the 
measure was a proper one or not, he did not say ; his confidence in the 
executive led him to suppose it was adopted on sufficient grounds — down 
to the order for suppressing, as it was called, the establishments at Amelia 
Island and Galveston — all the acts of the government had been on one 
side ; they all bore against the colonies, against the cause in which the 
patriots of South America were arduously engaged. It became us, he said, 
to look to the other side, honestly intending neutrality, as he believed we 
did. Let us recollect the condition of the patriots ; no minister here to 
spur on our government, as was said in an interesting, and, it appeared to 
him, a very candid work, recently published in this country, respecting the 
progress of the South American Revolution ; no minister here to be re- 
warded by noble honors, in consequence of the influence he is supposed to 
possess with the American government. No ; their unfortunate case was 
what ours had been, in the years 1778 and 1779 ; their ministers, like our 

8 



114 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Franklins and Jays at that day, were skulking about Europe, imploring in- 
exorable legitimacy for one kind look — some aid to terminate a war afflict- 
ing to humanity. Nay, their situation was worse than ours ; for we had 
one great and magnanimous ally to recognize us, but no nation had stepped 
forward to acknowledge any of these provinces. Such disparity between 
the parties, demanded a just attention to the interests of the party which 
was unrepresented ; and if the facts which he had mentioned, and others 
which had come to his knowledge, were correct, they loudly demanded the 
interposition of Congress. He trusted the House would give the subject 
their attention, and show that here, in this place, the obligations of neutral- 
ity would be strictly regarded in respect to South America. 

[The amendment moved by Mr. Clay was agreed to, without opposition]. 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT, 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 13, 1818. 

[For sound, irrefragable, irresistible argument, the following is 
one of Mr. Clay's great speeches, characterized, in a high degree, 
with his peculiar style of eloquence. It is always understood, 
that Mr. Clay must have been heard to be fully appreciated. 
The eloquence of his manner and voice, when thoroughly roused, 
was always an ineffable charm. The tug of war for internal im- 
provements, had now arrived ; and the constitutional question 
was fairly brought into the arena, by the highest authority — to 
wit, that of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe. Mr. 
Jefferson had expressed himself adverse to the power, before he 
retired from public life ; and as we have seen, Mr. Madison had 
vetoed a bill for internal improvement the day before the expir- 
ation of his term of office, notwithstanding that in his opening 
message to that session of Congress, he had recommended action 
on the subject. Mr. Monroe — who succeeded Mr. Madison, on 
the 4th of March, 1817 — took the opportunity, at the open- 
ing of the first session of the Fifteenth Congress, gratuitously to 
declare in his Message, that he had adopted Mr. Madison's 
opinion on this question. Nevertheless, each of these three 
authorities recommended an alteration in the Constitution, con- 
ferring this power, which, they acknowledged, was so much 
needed. But an amendment of the Constitution was apparently 
out of the question. The only open path, against such authority 
and the declared opinion of the incumbent of the executive 
chair, seemed to be, to obtain the sense of Congress, on this 
question by a resolution. Accordingly a resolution was offered 
in the House of Kepresentatives, asserting the power of Congress, 
under the Constitution, to construct military roads, post roads, 
and canals, in support of which the following speech was deliv- 
ered by Mr. Clay. The resolution was carried by the decisive 
majority of ninety against seventy-five, a signal triumph over the 



116 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

authorities arrayed against it. Though others participated in 
the debate, on the same side with Mr. Clay, his argument had, 
doubtless, an irresistible influence. It is impossible to read it 
without feeling that such must have been its power. First, he 
encounters the argument of his opponents in the committee, 
and leaves them little ground to stand upon. The manner in 
which they are made to enact their part is amusing. Mr. Jeffer- 
son's reasoning and course on this subject, are shown to be 
puerile ; and as to Mr. Madison's veto, he killed his own bill ; 
for he had virtually recommended it ; and nothing could be 
more surprising to his friends and the public than his veto mes- 
sage. On Mr. Monroe's gratuity, in attempting, in his opening 
message, to foreclose all debate and action in Congress on this 
subject. Mr. Clay bestows a merited rebuke. Nothing could have 
been more improper. But Mr. Monroe had himself exercised 
these powers, and set the army to making military roads — all 
which Mr. Clay approved. But the terrible scathing which he 
gives Mr. Monroe for doing that very thing, as the executive 
officer of the government, which, he avers, Congress could not 
authorize to be done, was a caution against the practice of such 
inconsistency. Driven into such an uncomfortable corner, and 
lashed with such severity while there — the severity of sarcasm 
only — Mr. Monroe's position could hardly have failed to excite 
commiseration, at the same time that it afforded an inexhaust- 
ible fund of amusement. Mr. Monroe was an excellent man and 
a popular president ; but he made a grand mistake in this mat- 
ter. It is remarkable that the first difficulties thrown in the 
way of internal improvements, were from three "Virginia presi- 
dents, alias, three Virginia abstractions. If they could always 
be served as Mr. Clay served these, it might be well for the 
country.] 

I have been anxious, said Mr. Clay, (in Committee .of the Whole), to 
catch the eye of the chairman for a few moments, to reply to some of the 
observations which have fallen from various gentlemen. I am aware that, 
in do'.xv this, I risk the loss of what is of the utmost value — the kind favor 
of the House, wearied as its patience is, by this prolonged debate. But 
when I feel what a deep interest the Union at large, and particularly that 
quarter of it whence I come, has, iu the decision of the present question, I 
can not omit any opportunity of earnestly urging upon the House the pro- 
priety of retaining the important power which this question involves. It 
will be recollected, that if unfortunately there should be a majority both 
against the abstract proposition asserting the power, and against its prac- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 117 

tical execution, the power is gone forever — the question is put at rest, so 
long as the Constitution remains as it is ; and with respect to any amend- 
ment, in this particular, I confess I utterly despair. It will be borne in 
mind, that the bill which passed Congress on this subject, at the last ses- 
sion, was rejected by the late president of the United States ; that at the 
commencement of the present session, the president communicated his 
clear opinion, after every effort to come to a different conclusion, that Con- 
gress does not possess the power contended for, and called upon us to take 
up the subject, in the shape of an amendment to the Constitution ; and, 
moreover, that the predecessor of the present and late presidents, has also 
intimated Lis opinion, that Congress does not possess the power. With 
the great weight and authority of the opinions of these distinguished men 
against the power, and with the fact, solemnly entered upon the record, 
that this House, after a deliberate review of the ground taken by it at the 
last session, has decided against the existence of it (if such, fatally, shall 
be the decision), the power, I repeat, is gone — gone forever, unless restored 
by an amendment of the Constitution. With regard to the practicability 
of obtaining such an amendment, I think it altogether out of the question. 
Two different descriptions of persons, entertaining sentiments directly op- 
posed, will unite and defeat such an amendment ; one embracing those 
who believe that the Constitution, fairly interpreted, already conveys the 
power ; and the other, those who think that Congress has not and ought 
not to have it. As a large portion of Congress, and probably a majority, 
believes the power to exist, it must be evident, if I am right in supposing 
that any considerable number of that majority would vote against an 
amendment which they do not believe necessary, that any attempt to 
amend would fail. Considering, as I do, the existence of the power as of 
the first importance, not merely to the preservation of the Union of the 
States, paramount as that consideration ever should be over all others, but 
to the prosperity of every great interest of the country, agriculture, man- 
ufactures, commerce, in peace and in war, it becomes us solemnly, and de- 
liberately, and anxiously, to examine the Constitution, and not to surrender 
it, if fairly to be collected from a just interpretation of that instrument. 

With regard to the alarm sought to be created, as to the nature of the 
power, by bringing up the old theme of " State rights," I would observe 
that if the illustrious persons just referred to are against us in the con- 
struction of the Constitution, they are on our side as to the harmless and 
beneficial character of the power. For it is not to be conceived, that each 
of them would have recommended an amendment to the Constitution, if 
they believed that the possession of such a power, by the general govern- 
ment, would be detrimental, much less dangerous, to the independence and 
liberties of the States. What real ground is there for this alarm ? Gen- 
tlemen have not condescended to show how the subversion of the rights 
of the States is to follow from the exercise of the power of internal im- 
provements by the general government. We contend for the power to 



118 SPEECHES OF HENKT CLAY. 

make roads and canals, to distribute the intelligence, force, and productions 
of the country, through all its parts ; and for such jurisdiction only over 
thern, as is necessary to their preservation from wanton injury and from 
gradual decay. Suppose such a power is sustained and in full operation ; 
imagine it to extend to every canal made, or proposed to he made, and to 
every post-road ; how inconsiderable and insignificant is the power in a 
political point of view, limited as it is, with regard to place and to pur- 
pose, when contrasted with the great mass of powers retained by the State 
sovereignties ! "What a small subtraction from the mass ! Even upon 
these roads and canals, the State governments, according to our principles, 
will still exercise jurisdiction over every possible case arising upon them, 
whether of crime or of contract, or any other human transaction, except 
only what immediately affects their existence and preservation. Thus de- 
fined, thus limited, and stripped of all factitious causes of alarm, I will 
appeal to the candor of gentleman to say, if the power really presents any 
thino- frightful in it ? With respect to post-roads, our adversaries admit 
the right of way in the general government. There have been, however, 
on this question, some instances of conflict, but they have passed away 
without any serious difficulty. Connecticut, if I have been rightly in- 
formed, disputed, at one period, the right of passage of the mail on the 
Sabbath. The general government persisted in the exercise of the right, 
and Connecticut herself, and every body else, have acquiesced in it. 

The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. H. Nelson) has contended, that I do 
not adhere, in the principles of construction which I apply to the Consti- 
tution, to the republican doctrines of 1798, of which that gentleman would 
have us believe he is the constant disciple. Let me call the attention of 
the committee to the celebrated state paper to which we both refer for 
our principles in this respect — (a paper which, although I have not seen it 
for sixteen years until tho gentleman had the politeness to furnish me 
with it during this debate, made such an impression on my mind, that I 
shall never forget the satisfaction with which I perused it.) I find that I 
have used, without having been aware of it, when I formerly addressed 
the committee, almost the same identical language employed by Mr. Mad- 
ison in that paper. It will be recollected, that I claimed no right tu ex- 
ercise any power under the Constitution, unless such power was expressly 
granted, or necessary and proper to carry into effect some granted power. 
I have not sought to derive power from the clause which authorizes Con- 
gress to appropriate money. I have been contented with endeavoring to 
show, that according to the doctrines of 1798, and according to the most 
rigid interpretation which any one will put upon the instrument, it is ex- 
pressly given in one case, and fairly deducible in others. 

It will be remarked, that Mr. Madison, in his reasoning on the Constitu- 
tion, has not employed the language fashionable during this debate ; he 
has not said, that an implied power must be absolutely necessary to carry 
into effect the specified power, to which it is appurtenant, to enable the 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 119 

general government to exercise it. No. This was a modern interpreta- 
tion of the Constitution. Mr. Madison has employed the language of the 
instrument itself, and has only contended that the implied power must be 
necessary and proper to carry into effect the specified power. He has 
only insisted, that when Congress applied its sound judgment to the Consti- 
tution in relation to implied powers, it should be clearly seen that they were 
necessary and proper to effectuate the specified powers. These are my 
principles ; but they are not those of the gentleman from Virginia and his 
friends on this occasion. They contend for a degree of necessity absolute 
and indispensable ; that by no possibility can the power be otherwise ex- 
ecuted. 

That there are two classes of powers in the Constitution, I believe has 
never been controverted by an American statesman. We can not foresee 
and provide specifically for all contingencies. Man and his language are 
both imperfect. Hence the existence of construction, and of constructive 
powers. Hence also the rule that a grant of the end is a grant of the 
means. If you amend the Constitution a thousand times, the same imper- 
fection of our nature and our lansaiao-e will attend our new works. There 
are two dangers to which we are exposed. The one is, that the general 
government may relapse into the debility which existed in the old confed- 
eration, and finally disolve from the want of cohesion. The denial to it of 
powers plainly conferred, or clearly necessary and proper to execute the 
conferred powers, may produce this effect. And I think, with great defer- 
ence to the gentlemen on the other side, this is the danger to which their 
principles directly tend. The other danger, that of consolidation, is, by the 
assumption of powers not granted, nor incident to granted powers, or the 
assumption of powers which have been withheld or expressly prohibited 
This was the danger of the period of 1798-9. For instance, that, in direct 
contradictien to a prohibitory clause of the Constitution, a sedition act was 
passed ; and an alien law was also passed, in equal violation of the spirit, 
if not of the express provisions, of the Constitution. It was by such 
measures that the federal party (if parties might be named), throwing off 
the vail, furnished to their adversaries the most effectual ground of opposi- 
tion. If they had not passed those acts, I think it highly probable that 
the current of power would have continued to flow in the same channel ; 
and the change of parties in 1801, so auspicious to the best interests of the 
country, as I believe, would never have occurred. 

I beg the committee — I entreat the true friends of the confederated 
union of these States — to examine this doctrine of State rights, and to see 
to what abusive, if not dangerous consequences, it may lead, to what ex- 
tent it has been carried, and how it has varied by the same State at different 
times. In alluding to the State of Massachusetts, I assure the gentlemen 
from that State, and particularly the honorable chairman of the committee 
to whom the claim of Massachusetts has been referred, that I have no in- 
tention to create any prejudice against that claim. I hope that when the 



120 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

subject is taken up it will be candidly and dispassionately considered, and 
tbat a decision will be made on it consistent with the rights of the Union 
and of the State of Massachusetts. The high character, amiable disposi- 
tion, and urbanity of the gentleman to whom I have alluded (Mr. Mason, 
of Massachusetts), will, if I had been otherwise inclined, prevent me from 
endeavoring to make impressions unfavorable, to the claim, whose justice that 
gentleman stands pledged to manifest. But in the period of 1798-9, what 
was the doctrine promulgated by Massachusetts ? It was, that the States, in 
their sovereign capacity, had no right to examine into the constitutionality 
or expediency of the measures of the general government. 

[Mr Clay here quoted several passages from the answer of the State of Mas- 
sachusetts to the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, concerning the alien and 
sedition laws, to prove his position.] 

We see here an express disclaimer, on the part of Massachusetts, of any 
right to decide on the constitutionality or expediency of the general govern- 
ment. But what was the doctrine which the same State, in 1813, thought 
proper to proclaim to the world, and that, too, when the Union was men- 
anced on all sides ? She not only claimed but exercised the right which, 
in 1799, she had so solemnly disavowed. She claimed the right to judge 
of the propriety of the call made by the general government for her militia, 
and she refused the militia called for. There is so much plausibility in 
the reasoning employed by that State in support of her modern doctrine of 
State rights, that, were it not for the unpopularity of the stand she took in 
the late war, or had it been in other times, and under other circumstances, 
she would very probably have escaped a great portion of that odium which 
has so justly fallen to her lot. The Constitution gives to Congress power to 
provide for calling out the militia to execute the laws of the Union, to sup- 
press insurrections, and to repel invasions ; and in no other cases. The 
militia was called out by the general government during the late war, to 
repel invasions. Massachusetts said, as you have no right to the militia, 
but in certain contingencies, she was competent to decide whether those 
contingencies had or had not occurred. And, having examined the facts, 
what then ? She said, all was peace and quietness in Massachusetts — no 
non-execution of the laws ; no insurrection at home ; no invasion from 
abroad, nor any immediate danger of invasion. And, in truth, I believe 
there was no actual invasion for nearly two years after the requisition. 
Under these circumstances, were it not for the supposed motive of her 
conduct, would not the case which Massachusetts made out have looked 
extremely plausible % I hope it is not necessary for me to say, that it is 
very far from my intention to convey any thing like approbation of the 
conduct of Massachusetts. No. My doctrine is, that the States, as States, 
have no right to oppose the execution of the powers which the general 
government asserts. Any State has undoubtedly the right to express its 
opinion, in the form of resolution or otherwise, and proceed, by constitu- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 121 

tional means, to redress any real or imaginary grievance ; but it has no 
right to withhold its military aid, when called upon by the high authorities 
of the general government, much less to obstruct the execution of a law regu- 
larly passed. To suppose the existence of such an alarming right, is to sup- 
pose, if not disunion itself, such a state of disorder and confusion as must in- 
evitably lead to it. 

Greatly as I venerate the State which gave me birth, and much as I re- 
spect the judges of its Supreme Court, several of whom are my personal 
friends, I am obliged to think that some of the doctrines which that' State 
has recently held concerning State rights, are fraught with much danger. 
K those doctrines had been asserted during the late war, a large share of 
the public disapprobation which has been given to Massachusetts would 
have fallen to Virginia. What are these doctrines ? The courts of Vir 
ginia assert, that they have a right to determine on the constitutionality 
of any law or treaty of the United States, and to exponnd them according 
to their own views, even if they should vary from the decision of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States. They assert more — that from their de- 
cision there can be no appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States ; 
and that there exists in Congress no power to frame a law, obliging the court 
of the State, in the last resort, to submit its decision to the supervision 
of the Supreme Court of the United States ; or, if I do not misunderstand the 
doctrine, to withdraw from the State tribunal, controversies involving the 
laws of the United States, and to place them before the federal judiciary. I 
am a friend, a true friend, to State rights ; but not in all cases as they are 
asserted. The States have their appointed orbit ; so has the Union ; and 
each should be confined within its fair, legitimate, and constitutional sphere. 
We should equally avoid that subtle process of argument which dissipates 
into air the powers of this government, and that spirit of encroachment 
which would snatch from the State, powers not delegated to the general 
government. We shall thus escape both the dangers I have noticed — that 
of relapsing into the alarming weakness of the confederation, which is de- 
scribed as a mere rope of sand ; and also that other, perhaps not the 
greatest danger, consolidation. No man deprecates more than I do, the 
idea of consolidation ; yet, between separation and consolidation, painful 
as would be the alternative, I would greatly prefer the latter. 

I will now proceed to endeavor to discover the real difference in the 
interpretation of the Constitution between the gentlemen on the other side 
and myself. It is agreed, that there is no power in the general govern- 
ment but that which is expressly granted, or which is impliable from an 
express grant. The difference, then, must be in the application of this 
rule. The gentleman from Virginia, who has favored the House with so 
able an argument on the subject, has conceded, though somewhat reluc- 
tantly, the existence of incidental powers, but he contended that they must 
have a direct and necessary relation to some specified power. Granted. 
But who is to judge of this relation ? And what rule can you prescribe 



122 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

different from that which the Constitution has required, that it should be 
necessary and proper ? Whatever may be the rule, in whatever language 
you may choose to express it, there must be a certain degree of discretion 
left to the agent who is to apply it. But gentlemen are alarmed at this 
discretion — that law of tyrants, on which they contend there is no limit- 
ation. It should be observed, in the first place, that the gentlemen are 
brought, by the very course of reasoning which they themselves employ, 
by all the rules which they would lay down for the Constitution, to cases 
where discretion must exist. But is there no limitation, no security, against 
the abuse of it ? Yes, there is such security in the fact of our being mem- 
bers of the same society, equally affected ourselves by the laws we promul- 
gate. There is the further security in the oath which is taken to support 
the Constitution, and which will tend to restrain Congress from deriving 
powers which are not proper and necessary. There is the yet further se- 
curity, that at the end of every two years, the members must be amenable 
to the people for the manner in which their trusts have been performed. 
And there remains also that further, though awful security, the last resort 
of society, which I contend belongs alike to the people and to the States 
in their sovereign capacity, to be exercised in extreme cases, and when op- 
pression becomes intolerable, the right of resistance. Take the gentleman's 
own doctrine (Mr. Barbour), the most restricted which has been asserted, 
and what other securities have we against the abuse of power, than those 
which I have enumerated ? Say that there must be an absolute necessity 
to justify the exercise of an implied power, who is to define that absolute 
necessity, and then to apply it ? Who is to be the judge ? Where is the 
security against transcending that limit ? The rule the gentleman con- 
tends for has no greater security than that insisted upon by us. It equally 
leads to the same discretion, a sound discretion, exercised under all the 
responsibility of a solemn oath, of a regard to our fair fame, of a knowl- 
edge that we are ourselves the subjects of those laws which we pass, and, 
lastly, of the right of resisting insupportable tyranny. And, by way of 
illustration, if the sedition act had not been condemned by the indignant 
voice of the community, the right of resistance would have accrued. If 
Congress assumed the power to control the right of speech, and to assail, 
by penal statutes, the greatest of all the bulwarks of liberty, the freedom 
of the press, and there were no other means to arrest their progress but 
that to which I have referred, lamentable as would be the appeal, such a 
monstrous abuse of power, I contend, would authorize a recurrence to 
that right. 

If, then, the gentlemen on the other side and myself differ so little in 
our general principles, as I think I have shown, I will proceed, for a few 
moments, to look at the Constitution a little more in detail. I have con- 
tended that the power to construct post-roads is expressly granted in the 
power to establish post-roads. If it be, there is an end of the controversy ; 
but if not the next inquiry is, whether that power may be fairly deduced, 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 123 

by implication, from any of the special grants of power. To show that 
the power is expressly granted, I might safely appeal to the arguments al- 
ready used, to prove that the word establish, in this case, can mean only 
one thing — the right of making. Several gentlemen have contended that 
the word has a different sense ; and one has resorted to the preamble of 
the Constitution, to show that the phrase "to establish justice," there used, 
does not convey the power of creation. If the word " establish" is there 
to be taken in the sense which gentlemen claim for it, that of adoption or 
designation, Congress could have a choice only of systems of justice pre- 
existing. Will any gentleman contend that we are obliged to take the 
Justinian code, the Napoleon code, the code of civil, or the code of com- 
mon, or canon law ? Establishment means in the preamble, as in other 
cases, construction, formation, creation. Let me ask, in all cases of crime, 
which are merely malum prohibitum, if you do not resort to construction, 
to creating, when you make the offense ? By your laws denouncing cer- 
tain acts as criminal offenses, laws which the good of society requires you 
to pass, and to adapt to our peculiar condition, you do construct and create 
a system of rules to be administered by the judiciary. But gentlemen say 
that the word can not mean make; that you would not say, for example, 
to establish a ship, to establish a chair. In the application of this, as of 
all other terms, you must be guided by the nature of the subject ; and if it 
can not properly be used in all cases, it does not follow that it can not be 
in any. And when we take into consideration that, under the old articles 
of confederation, Congress had over the subject of post-roads just as much 
power as geutlemen allow to the existing government, that it was the 
general scope and spirit of the new Constitution to enlarge the powers of 
the general government, and that, in fact, in this very clause, the power to 
establish post-offices, which was alone possessed by the former government, 
I think I may safely consider the argument, on this part of the subject, as 
successfully maintained. With respect to military roads, the concession 
that they may be made when called for by the emergency, is admitting 
that the Constitution conveys the power. And we may safely appeal to 
the judgment of the* candid and enlightened to decide between the wisdom 
of these two constructions, of which one requires you to wait for the ex- 
ercise of your power until the arrival of an emergency, which may not 
allow you to exert it, and the other, without denying you the power, if 
you can exercise it during the emergency, claims the right of providing 
beforehand against the emergency. 

One member has stated what appeared to him a conclusive argument 
against the power to cut canals, that he had understood that a proposition, 
made in the convention to insert such power, was rejected. To this argu- 
ment more than one sufficient answer can be made. In the first place, the 
fact itself has been denied, and I have never yet seen any evidence of it. 
But suppose that the proposition had been made and overruled, unless the 
motives of the refusal to insert it are known, gentlemen are not authorized 



124 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

to draw the inference that it was from hostility to the power, or from ? 
desire to withhold it from Congress. May not one of the objections be. 
that the power was fairly to be inferred from some of the specific grants 
of power, and that it was therefore not necessary to insert the proposition ? 
that to adopt it, indeed, might lead to weaken or bring into doubt other 
incidental powers not enumerated ? A member from New York (Mr. 
Storrs), whose absence I regret on this occasion, not only on account of 
the great aid which might have been expected from him, but from the 
cause of that absence, has informed me that, in the convention of that 
State, one of the objections to the Constitution by the anti-federalists was, 
that it was understood to convey to the general government the power to 
cut canals. How often, in the course of the proceedings of this House, do 
we reject amendments upon the sole ground that they are not necessary, 
the principle of the amendment being already contained in the proposi- 
tion ? 

I refer to the " Federalist," for one moment, to show that the only notice 
taken of that clause of the Constitution which relates to post-roads, is fa- 
vorable to my construction. The power, that book says, must always be 
a harmless one. I have endeavored to show, not only that it is perfectly 
harmless, but that every exercise of it must be necessarily beneficial. 
Nothing which tends to facilitate intercourse among the States, says the 
" Federalist," can be unworthy of the public care. What intercourse ? Even 
if restricted on the narrowest theory of gentlemen on the other side, to 
the intercourse of intelligence, they deny that to us, since they will not 
admit that we have the power to repair or improve the way, the right of 
which they yield us. In a more liberal and enlarged sense of the word, 
it will comprehend all those various means of accomplishing the object 
which are calculated to render us a homogeneous people — one in feeling, 
in interest, and affection ; as we are one in our political relation. 

Is there not a direct and intimate relation between the power to make 
war, and military roads and canals ? It is in vain that the convention have 
confided to the general government the tremendous power of declaring 
war ; have imposed upon it the duty to employ the whole physical means 
of the nation to render the war, whatever may be its character, successful 
and glorious ; if the power is withheld of transporting and distributing 
those means. Let us appeal to facts, which are sometimes worth volumes 
of theory. We have recently had a war raging on all the four quarters 
of the Union. The only circumstance which gave me pain at the close of 
that war, the detention of Moose Island, would not have occurred, if we 
had possessed military roads. Why did not the Union, why did not Mas- 
sachusetts, make a struggle to reconquer the island ? Not for the want 
of men ; not for the want of patriotism, I hope ; but from the want of 
physical ability to march a force sufficient to dislodge the enemy. On 
the north-western frontier, millions of money, and some of the most pre- 
cious blood of the State from which I have the honor to come, were waste- 



ON INTEKNAL IMPROVEMENT. 125 

fully expended for the want of such roads. My honorable friend from 
Ohio (General Harrison), who commanded the army in that quarter, could 
furnish a volume of evidence on this subject. What now paralyzes our 
arms on the southern frontier, and occasioned the recent massacre of fifty 
of our brave soldiers ? What, but the want of proper means for the com- 
munication of intelligence, and for the transportation of our resources 
from point to point ? Whether we refer to our own experience, or that 
of other countries, we can not fail to perceive the great value of military 
roads. Those great masters of the world, the Romans, how did they sus- 
tain their power so many centuries, diffusing law and liberty, and intelli- 
gence, all around them ? They made permanent military roads ; and 
among the objects of interest which Europe now presents are the remains 
of those Roman roads, which are shown to the curious inquirer. If there 
were no other monument remaining of the sagacity and of the illustrious 
deeds of the unfortunate captive of St. Helena, the internal improvements 
which he made, the road from Hamburg to Basle, would perpetuate his 
memory to future ages. In making these allusions, let me not be misun- 
derstood. I do not desire to see military roads established for the purpose 
of conquest, but of defense ; and as a part of that preparation which 
should be made in a season of peace for a season of war. I do not wish 
to see this country ever in that complete state of preparation for war for 
which some contend ; that is, that we should constantly have a large 
standing army, well disciplined, and always ready to act. I want to see 
the bill reported by my friend from Ohio, or some other, embracing an ef- 
fective militia system, passed into a law ; and a chain of roads and canals, 
by the aid of which our physical means can be promptly transported to 
any required point. These, connected with a small military establishment 
to keep up our forts and garrisons, constitute the kind of preparation for 
war, which, it appears to me, this country ought to make. No man, who 
has paid the least attention to the operations of modern war, can have 
failed to remark how essential good roads and canals are to the success of 
those operations. How often have battles been won by celerity and rap- 
idity of movement ! It is one of the most essential circumstances in war. 
But, without good roads, it is impossible. Members will recall to their 
recollections the fact, that, in the Senate, several years ago, an honorable 
friend of mine (Mr. Bayard), whose premature death I shall ever deplore, 
who was an ornament to the councils of his country, and who, when 
abroad, was the able and fearless advocate of her rights, did, in supporting 
a subscription which he proposed the United States Bank should make to 
the stock of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal Company, earnestly rec- 
ommend the measure as connected with our operations in Avar. I listened 
to my friend with some incredulity, and thought he pushed his argument 
too far. I had, soon after, a practical evidence of its justness. For, in 
traveling from Philadelphia, in the fall of 1813, I saw transporting, from 
Elk river to the Delaware, large quantities of massy timbers for the con- 



126 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

struction of the Guerriere or the Franklin, or both ; and, judging from 
the number of wagons and horses, and the number of days employed, I 
believe the additional expense of that single operation would have gone 
very far to complete that canal, whose cause was espoused with so much 
eloquence in the Senate, and with so much effect, too ; bills having pass- 
ed that body more than once to give aid, in some shape or other, to that 
canal. With notorious facts like this, is it not obvious, that a line of mili- 
tary canals is not only necessary and proper, but almost indispensable to 
the war-making power ? 

One of the rules of construction which has been laid down, I acknowl- 
edge my incapacity to comprehend. Gentlemen say, that the power in 
question is a substantive power ; and that no substantive power can be 
derived by implication. What is their definition of a substantive power ? 
Will they favor us with the principle of discrimination between powers 
which, being substantive, are not grantable but by express grant, and 
those which, not being substantive, may be conveyed by implication ? 
Although I do not perceive why this power is more entitled than many 
implied powers, to the denomination of substantive, suppose that be 
yielded, how do gentlemen prove that it may not be conveyed by implica- 
tion ? If the positions were maintained, which have not yet been proved, 
that the power is substantive, and that no substantive power can be 
implied, yet I trust it has been satisfactorily shown that there is an express 
grant. 

My honorable friend from Virginia (Mr. Nelson), has denied the oper- 
ation of executive influence on his mind ; and has informed the committee, 
that from that quarter he has nothing to expect, to hope, or to fear. I did 
not impute to my honorable friend any such motive ; I knew his inde- 
pendence of character and of mind too well to do so. But I entreat him 
to reflect, if he does not expose himself to such an imputation by those 
less friendly disposed toward him than myself. Let us look a little at 
facts. The president recommends the establishment of a bank. If ever 
there were a stretch of implied powers conveyed by the Constitution, it 
has been thought that the grant of the charter of the national bank was 
one. But the president recommends it. Where was then my honorable 
friend, the friend of State rights, who so pathetically calls upon us to re- 
pent, in sackcloth and ashes, our meditated violation of the Constitution ; 
and who kindly expresses his hope, that we shall be made to feel the pub- 
lic indignation ? Where was he at that awful epoch ? Where was that 
eloquent tongue, which wo have now heard with so much pleasure ? 
Silent ! Silent as the grave ! 

[Mr. Nelson said, across the House, that he had voted against the bank bill 
when first recommended.] 

Alas ! my honorable friend had not the heart to withstand a second rec- 
ommendation from the president ; but, when it came, yielded, no doubt 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 127 

most reluctantly, to the executive wishes, and voted for the hank. At the 
last session of Congress, Mr. Madison recommended (and I will presently 
make some remarks on that subject) an exercise of all the existing powers 
of the general government, to establish a comprehensive system of internal 
improvements. Where was my honorable friend on that occasion ? Not • 
silent as the grave, but he gave a negative vote, almost as silent. No 
effort was made on his part, great as he is when he exerts the powers of 
his well-stored mind, to save the commonwealth from that greatest of all 
calamities, a system of internal improvement. No ; although a war with 
all the allies, he now thinks, would be less terrible than the adoption of 
this report, not one word then dropped from his lips against the measure. «, 

[Mr. Nelson said he voted against the bill.] 

That he whispered out an unwilling negative, I do not deny ; but it was 
unsustained by that torrent of eloquence which he has poured out on the 
present occasion. But we have an executive message now, not quite as 
ambiguous in its terms, nor as oracular in its meaning, as that of Mr. 
Madison appears to have been. No ; the president now says, that he has 
made great efforts to vanquish his objections to the power, and that he 
can not but believe that it does not exist. Then my honorable friend 
rouses, thunders forth the danger in which the Constitution is, and sounds 
the tocsin of alarm. Far from insinuating that he is at all biased by the 
executive wishes, I appeal to his candor to say, if there is not a remarkable 
coincidence between his zeal and exertions, and the opinions of the chief 
magistrate ? 

Now let us review those opinions as communicated at different periods. 
It was the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, that, although there was no general 
power vested by the Constitution in Congress, to construct roads and 
canals, without the consent of the States, yet such a power might be exer- 
cised with their assent. Mr. Jefferson not only held this opinion in the • 
abstract, but he practically executed it in the instance of the Cumberland 
road ; and how ? First, by a compact made with the State of Ohio, for 
the application of a specified fund, and then by compacts with Virginia, 
Pennsylvania, and Maryland, to apply the fund so set apart within their 
respective limits. If, however, I rightly understood my honorable friend 
the other day, he expressly denied (and in that I concur with him) that 
the power could be acquired by the mere consent of the State. Yet he 
defended the act of Mr. Jefferson, in the case referred to. 

[Mr. Nelson expressed his dissent to this statement of his argument.] 

It is far from my intention to misstate the gentleman. I certainly un- 
derstood him to say, that, as the road was first stipulated for in the com- 
pact with Ohio, it was competent afterward to carry it through the States 
mentioned with their assent. Now, if wo have not the right to make a 



128 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

road in virtue of one compact made with a single State, can we obtain it 
by two contracts made with several States ? The character of the fund 
can not affect the question. It is totally immaterial whether it arises from 
the sales of the public lands, or from the general revenue. Suppose a con- 
tract made with Massachusetts, that a certain portion of the revenue, col- 
lected at the port of Boston, from foreign trade, should be expended in 
making roads and canals leading to that State, and that a subsequent com- 
pact should be made with Connecticut or New Hampshire, for the expend- 
iture of the fund on these objects, within their limits. Can we acquire 
the power, in this manner, over internal improvements, if we do not possess 
it independently of such compacts? I conceive, clearly not. And I am 
entirely at a loss to comprehend how gentlemen, consistently with their own 
principles, can justify the erection of the Cumberland road. No man is 
prouder than I am of that noble monument of the provident care of the 
nation, and of the public spirit of its projectors ; and I trust that, in spite 
of all constitutional and other scruples, here or elsewhere, an appropriation 
will be made to complete that road. I confess, however, freely, that I am 
entirely unable to conceive of any principle on which that road can be 
supported, that would not uphold the general power contended for. 

I will now examine the opinion of Mr. Madison. Of all the acts of that 
pure, virtuous, and illustrious statesman, whose administration has so pow- 
erfully tended to advance the glory, honor, and prosperity of this country, 
I must regret, for his sake and for the sake of the country, the rejection of 
the bill of the last session. I think it irreconcilable with Mr. Madison's 
own principles — those great, broad, and liberal principles, on which he so 
ably administered the government. And, sir, when I appeal to the mem- 
bers of the last Congress, who are now in my hearing, I am authorized to 
say, with regard to the majority of them, that no circumstances, not even 
an earthquake, that should have swallowed up one half of this city, could 
have excited more surprise than when it was first communicated to this 
House, that Mr. Madison had rejected his own bill — I say his own bill, for 
his message at the opening of the session meant nothing, if it did not rec- 
ommend such an exercise of power as was contained in that bill. My 
friend, who is near me (Mr. Johnson, of Virginia), the operations of whose 
vigorous and independent mind, depend upon his own internal perceptions, 
has expressed himself with becoming manliness, and thrown aside the 
authority of names, as having no bearing with him on the question. But 
their authority has been referred to, and will have influence with others. 
It is impossible, moreover, to disguise the fact, that the question is now a 
question between the executive on the one side, and the representatives of 
the people on the other. So it is understood in the country, and such is 
the fact. Mr. Madison enjoys, in his retreat at Montpelier, the repose and 
the honors due to his eminent and laborious services ; and I would be 
among the last to disturb it. However painful it is to me to animadvert 
upon any of his opinions, I feel perfectly sure that the circumstance can 






ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 129 

only be viewed by him with an enlightened liberality. What are the 
opinions which have been expressed by Mr. Madison on tbis subject ? I 
will not refer to all the messages wherein he has recommended internal 
improvements ; but to that alone which he addressed to Congress, at the 
commencement of the last session, which contains this passage : 

" I particularly invite again the attention of Congress to the expediency of 
exercising their existing powers, and, where necessary, of resorting to the pre- 
scribed mode of enlarging them, in order to effectuate a comprehensive system of 
roads and canals, such as will have the effect of drawing more closely together 
every part of our country, by promoting intercourse and improvements, and 
by increasing the share of every part in the common stock of national pros- 
perity." 

In the examination of this passage, two positions force themselves upon 
our attention. The first is, the assertion that there are existing powers in 
Congress to effectuate a comprehensive system of roads and canals, the ef- 
fect of which would be to draw the different parts of the country more 
closely together. And I would candidly admit, in the second place, that 
it was intimated, that, in the exercise of those existing powers, some defect 
might be discovered which would render an amendment of the Constitution 
necessary. Nothing could be more clearly affirmed than the first position ; 
but in the message of Mr. Madison returning the bill, passed in consequence 
of his recommendation, he has not specified a solitary case to which those 
existing powers are applicable ; he has not told us what he meant by those 
existing powers ; and the general scope of his reasoning, in that message, 
if well founded, proves that there are no existing powers whatever. It is 
apparent, that Mr. Madison himself has not examined some of those prin- 
cipal sources of the Constitution from which, during this debate, the power 
has been derived. I deeply regret, and I know that Mr. Madison regretted 
that the circumstances under which the bill was presented to him (the last 
day but one of a most busy session) deprived him of an opportunity of that 
thorough investigation of which no man is more capable. It is certain, 
that, taking his two messages at the same session together, they are per- 
fectly irreconcilable. What, moreover, was the nature of that bill ? It 
did not apply the money to any specific object of internal improvement, 
nor designate any particular mode in which it should be applied ; but 
merely set apart and pledged the fund to the general purpose, subject to 
the future disposition of Congress. If, then, there were any supposable 
case whatever, to which Congress might apply money in the erection of a 
road, or cuttino- a canal, the bill did not violate the Constitution. And 
it ought not to be anticipated, that money constitutionally appropriated by 
one Congress would be unconstitutionally expended by another. 

I come now to the message of Mr. Monroe ; and if, by the communica- 
tion of his opinion to Congress, he intended to prevent discussion, he has 
most wofully failed. I know that, according to a most venerable and ex- 

9 



130 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

cellent usage, the opinion, neither of the president or of the Senate, upon 
any proposition depending in this House, ought to be adverted to. Even 
in the Parliament of Great Britain, a member who -would refer to the 
opinion of the sovereign, in such a case, would be instantly called to order ; 
but under the extraordinary circumstances of the president having, with, I 
have no doubt, the best motives, volunteered his opinion on this head, and 
inverted the order of legislation by beginning where it should end, I am 
compelled, most reluctantly, to refer to that opinion. I can not but depre- 
cate the practice of which the president has, in this instance, set the ex- 
ample to his successors. The constitutional order of legislation supposes 
that every bill originating in one House, shall be there deliberately investi- 
gated, without influence from any other branch of the Legislature ; and then 
remitted to the other House for a like free and unbiased consideration. 
Having passed both Houses, it is to be laid before the president ; signed if 
approved, and if disapproved, to be returned, with his objections, to the 
originating House. In this manner, entire freedom of thought and of 
action is secured, and the president finally sees the proposition in the most 
matured form which Congress can give to it. The practical effect, to say 
no more, of forestalling the legislative opinion, and telling us what we may 
or may not do, will be to deprive the president himself of the opportunity 
of considering a proposition so matured, and us of the benefit of bis reason- 
ing applied specifically to such proposition. For the Constitution further 
enjoins it upon him, to state his objections upon returning the bill. The 
originating House is then to reconsider it, and deliberately to weigh those 
objections ; and it is further required, when the question is again taken, 
Shall the bill pass, those objections notwithstanding ? that the votes shall 
be solemnly spread, by ayes and noes, upon the record. Of this oppor- 
tunity of thus recording our opinions, in matters of great public concern, 
we are deprived, if we submit to the innovation of the president. I will 
not press this part of the subject further. I repeat, again and again, that 
I have no doubt but that the president was actuated by the purest motives. 
I am compelled, however, in the exercise of that freedom of opinion which, 
so loDg as I exist, I will maintain, to say, that the proceeding is irregular 
and unconstitutional. Let us, however, examine the reasoning and opinion 
of the president : 

" A difference of opinion has existed from the first formation of our Consti- 
tution to the present time, among our most enlightened and virtuous citizens 
respecting the right of Congress to establish a system of internal improvement 
Talcing into view the trust with which I am now honored, it would be improper, 
after what has passed, that this discussion should be revived, with an uncer- 
tainty of my opinion respecting the right. Disregarding early impressions, I 
have bestowed on the subject all the deliberation which its great importance 
and a just sense of my duty required ; and the result is, a settled conviction in 
my mind, that Congress does not possess the right. It is not contained in any 
of the specified powers granted to Congress ; nor can I consider it incidental 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 131 

to, or a necessary mean, viewed on the most liberal scale, for carrying into 
effect any of the powers which are specifically granted. In communicating this 
result, I can not resist the obligation which I feel, to suggest to Congress the 
propriety of recommending to the States the adoption of an amendment to the 
Constitution, which shall give the right in question. In cases of doubtful con- 
struction, especially of such vital interest, it comports with the nature and origin 
of our institutions, and will contribute much to preserve them, to apply to our 
constituents for an explicit grant of power. We may confidently rely, that, if 
it appears to their satisfaction that the power is necessary, it will always be 
granted." 

In this passage the president has furnished us with no reasoning, no 
argument in support of his opinion — nothing addressed to the understand- 
ing. He gives us, indeed, an historical account of the operations of his 
own mind, and he asserts that he has made a laborious effort to conquer 
his early impressions, but that the result is a settled conviction against 
the power, without a single reason. In his position, that the power must 
be specifically granted, or incident to a power so granted, it has been seen, 
that I have the honor to entirely concur with him ; but, he says, the power 
is not among the specified powers. Has he taken into consideration the 
clause respecting post-roads, and told us how and why that does not con- 
vey the power ? If he had acted within what I conceive to be his con- 
stitutional sphere of rejecting the bill, after it had passed both Houses, he 
must have learned that great stress was placed on that clause, and we 
should have been enlightened by his comments upon it. As to his denial 
of the power, as an incident to any of the express grants, I would have 
thought that we might have safely appealed to the experience of the 
president, during the late war, when the country derived so much benefit 
from his judicious administration of the duties of the war department, 
whether roads and canals for military purposes were not essential to 
celerity and successful result in the operations of armies. This part of 
the message is all assertion, and contains no argument which I can com- 
prehend, or which meets the points contended for during this debate. 
Allow me here to say, and I do it without the least disrespect to that branch 
of the government on whose opinions and acts it has been rendered my 
painful duty to comment ; let me say, in reference to any man, however 
elevated his station, even if he be endowed with the power and preroga- 
tives of a sovereign, that his acts are worth infinitely more, and are more 
intelligible than mere paper sentiments or declarations. And what have 
been the acts of the president ? During his tour of the last summer, did 
he not order a road to be cut or repaired from near Plattsburg to the 
St. Lawrence ? My honorable friend will excuse me, if my comprehension 
is too dull to perceive the force of that argument, which seeks to draw a 
distinction between repairing an old and making a new road. 

(Mr. Nelson said he had not drawn that distinction, having only stated the fact.) 



132 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Certainly no such distinction is to be found in the Constitution, or ex- 
ists in reason. Grant, however, the power of reparation, and we will make 
it do. We will take the post-roads, sinuous as they are, and put them in 
a condition to enable the mails to pass, without those mortifying delays and 
disappointments, to which we, at least in the West, are so often liable. The 
president then ordered a road of considerable extent to be constructed or 
repaired, on his sole authority, in a time of profound peace, when no enemy 
threatened the country, and when, in relation to the power as to which 
alone that road could be useful in time of war, there exists the best under- 
standing, and a prospect of lasting friendship, greater than at any other 
period. On his sole authority the president acted, and we are already 
called upon by the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means to 
sanction the act by an appropriation. This measure has been taken, too> 
without the consent of the State of New York; and what is wonderful, 
when we consider the magnitude of the State rights which are said to be 
violated, without even a protest on the part of that State against it. On 
the contrary, I understand, from some of the military officers who are 
charged with the execution of the work, what is very extraordinary, that 
the people through whose quarter of the country the road passes, do not 
view it as a national calamity ; that they would be very glad that the 
president would visit them often, and that he would order a road to be cut 
and improved, at the national expense, every time he should visit them. 
Other roads, in other parts of the Union, have, it seems, been likewise 
ordered, or their execution, at the public expense, sanctioned by the ex- 
ecutive, without the concurrence of Congress. If the president has the 
power to cause these public improvements to be executed at his pleasure, 
whence is it derived? If any member will stand up in his place and 
say the president is clothed with this authority, and that it is denied to 
Congress, let us hear 'from him ; and let him point to the clause of the 
Constitution which vests it in the executive and withholds it from the leg- 
islative branch. 

There is no such clause ; there is no such exclusive executive power. 
The power is derivable by the executive only from those provisions of the 
Constitution which charge him with the duties of commanding the phys- 
ical force of the country, and the employment of that force in war, and the 
preservation of the public tranquillity, and in the execution of the laws. 
But Congress has paramount powers to the president. It alone can de- 
clare war, can raise armies, can provide for calling out the militia, in the 
specified instances, and can raise and appropriate the ways and means 
necessary to those objects. Or is it come to this, that there are to be two 
rules of construction for the Constitution — one, an enlarged rule for the 
executive, and another, a restricted rule for the Legislature ? Is it already 
to be held that, according to the genius and nature of our Constitution, 
powers of this kind may be safely intrusted to the executive, but when at- 
tempted to be exercised by the Legislature, are so alarming and dangerous 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 133 

that a war with all tbe allied powers would be less terrible, and that the- 
nation should clothe itself straightway in sackcloth and ashes ! No, sir ; if 
the power belongs only by implication to the chief magistrate, it is placed 
both by implication and express grant in the hands of Congress. I am so 
far from condemning the act of the president, to which I have referred, 
that I think it deserving of high approbation. That it was within the 
scope of his constitutional authority, I have no doubt; and I sincerely 
trust that the Secretary at War will, in time of peace, constantly employ 
in that way the military force. It will, at the same time, guard that force 
against the vices incident to indolence and inaction, and correct the evil 
of subtracting from the mass of the labor of society, where labor is more 
valuable than in any other country, that portion of it which enters into 
the composition of the army. But I most solemnly protest against any 
exercise of powers of this kind by the president which are denied to Con- 
gress, And if the opinions expressed by him, in his message, were com- 
municated, or are to be used here to influence the judgment of the House, 
their authority is more than countervailed by the authority of his deliber- 
ate acts. 

Some principles drawn from political economists have been alluded to, 
and we are advised to leave things to themselves, upon the ground that, 
when the condition of society is ripe for internal improvements — that is, 
when capital can be so invested with a fair prospect of adequate remuneration, 
they will be executed by associations of individuals, unaided by govern- 
ment. With my friend from South Carolina (Mr. Lowndes) I concur in 
this as a general maxim ; and I also concur with him that there are 
exceptions to it. The foreign policy which I think this country ought to 
adopt, presents one of those exceptions. It would, perhaps, be better for 
mankind if, in the intercourse between nations, all would leave skill and 
industry to their unstimulated exertions. But this is not done ; and if 
other powers will incite the industry of their subjects, and depress that of 
our citizens, in instances where they may come into competition, we must 
imitate their selfish example. Hence the necessity to protect our manu- 
factures. In regard to internal improvements, it does not follow that they 
will always be constructed whenever they will afford a competent dividend 
upon the capital invested. It may be true, generally, that in old countries 
where there is a great accumulation of surplus capital, and a consequent 
low rate of interest, they will be made. But, in a new country, the con- 
dition of society may be ripe for public works long before there is, in the 
hands of individuals, the necessary accumulation of capital to effect them ; 
and besides, there is, generally, in such a country, not only a scarcity ot 
capital, but such a multiplicity of profitable objects presenting themselves 
as to distract the judgment. Further; the aggregate benefit resulting to 
the whole society, from a public improvement, may be such as to amply 
justify the investment of capital in its execution, and yet that benefit may 
be so distributed among different and distant persons that they can never 



134 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY. 

be got to act in concert. The turnpike roads wanted to pass the Alleghany 
mountains, and the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal are objects of this de- 
scription. Those who will be most benefited by these improvements reside 
at a considerable distance from the sites of them ; many of those persons 
never have seen and never will see them. How is it possible to regulate 
the contributions, or to present to individuals so situated a sufficiently 
lively picture of their real interests, to get them to make exertions in ef- 
fectuating the object commensurate with their respective abilities? I think 
it very possible that the capitalist who should invest his money in one of 
these objects, might not be reimbursed three per centum annually upon it ; 
and yet society, in various forms, might actually reap fifteen or twenty per 
centum. The benefit resulting from a turnpike road, made by private as- 
sociation, is divided between the capitalist who receives his tolls, the lands 
through which it passes, and which are augmented in their value, and the 
commodities whose value is enhanced by the diminished expense of trans- 
portation. A combination, upon any terms, much less a just combination 
of all those interests, to effect the improvement, is impracticable. And if 
you await the arrival of the period when the tolls alone can produce a 
competent dividend, it is evident that you will have to suspend its execu- 
tion long after the general interests of society would have authorized it. 

Again, improvements, made by private associations, are generally made 
by local capital. But ages must elapse before there will be concentrated 
in certain places, where the interests of the whole community may call 
for improvements, sufficient capital to make them. The place of the im- 
provement, too, is not always the most interested in its accomplishment. 
Other parts of the Union — the whole line of the seaboard — are quite as 
much, if not more interested, in the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, as 
the small tract of country through which it is proposed to pass. The 
same observation will apply to turnpike roads passing through the Alle- 
ghany mountain. Sometimes the interest of the place of the improvement 
is adverse to the improvement and to the general interest. I would cite 
Louisville, at the rapids of the Ohio, as an example, whose interest will 
probably be more promoted by the continuance, than the removal of the 
obstruction. Of all the modes in which a government can employ its sur- 
plus revenue, none is more permanently beneficial than that of internal 
improvement. Fixed to the soil, it becomes a durable part of the land 
itself, diffusing comfort, and activity, and animation, on all sides. The 
first direct effect is on the agricultural community, into whose pockets 
comes the difference in the expense of transportation between good and 
bad ways. Thus, if the price of transporting a barrel of flour by the 
erection of the Cumberland turnpike should be lessened two dollars, 
the producer of the article would receive that two dollars more now than 
formerly. 

But, putting aside all pecuniary considerations, there may be political 
motives sufficiently powerful alone to justify certain internal improvements. 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 135 

Does not our country present such ? How are they to be effected, if 
things are left to themselves ? I will not press the subject further. I am 
but too sensible how much I have abused the patience of the committee 
by trespassing so long upon its attention. The magnitude of the question, 
and the deep interest I feel in its rightful decision, must be my apology. 
We are now making the last effort to establish our power, and I call on 
the friends of Congress, of this House, or the true friends of the State 
rights (not charging others with intending to oppose them), to rally round 
the Constitution, and to support by their votes, on this occasion, the legit- 
imate powers of the Legislature. If we do nothing this session but pass 
an abstract resolution on the subject, I shall, under all circumstances, con- 
sider it a triumph for the best interests of the country, of which posterity 
will, if we do not, reap the benefit. I trust, that by the decision which 
shall be given, we shall assert, uphold, and maintain, the authority of 
Congress, notwithstanding all that has been or may be said against it. 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN 

STATES. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 24, 1818. 

[Mr. Clay had had occasion, in 1816 and 1817, to make some 
incidental allusions to the great subject of the two following 
speeches, and in one instance to come out boldly upon it. The war 
between Spain and her American colonies, had now been carried 
on for several years, with great, even barbarous atrocities on the 
part of Spain, and with constantly augmenting chances in favor 
of the ultimate independence of the colonies. The example and 
successful career of the United States of North America, had 
inspired them with hope, and the wrongs of Spain were much 
more grievous than those inflicted by Great Britain on her 
colonies. Spain was more remote from her rebellious provinces, 
and less able to send against them efficient forces, being herself 
in a condition of rapid decadence. But her American continent- 
al possessions constituted a vast domain, and the richest gem in 
her crown. To lose them, was like cutting off the legs and arms 
of a man, leaving only the trunk. Three things, in such a case, 
invariably follow a relentless despotism, sooner or later : first, 
that despotism knows not how to relax its severities ; next, that 
it drives its victims to desperation ; and thirdly, that, if there 
be any hope of freedom, freedom will at last crown the efforts of 
the oppressed. 

It was morally impossible for a man of Mr. Clay's tempera- 
ment as a man, and his position as an American statesman, to 
look on this struggle with feelings of indifference, or not to make 
an effort, in some form, to aid these oppressed provinces of Spain. 
He had even suggested, on a former occasion, that it might be 
expedient for the United States to form an alliance, offensive 
and defensive, with these interesting communities, against the 
mother country. On the present occasion, however, he only pro- 
posed a recognition of one of these Spanish colonies — The United 
Provinces of Rio de la Plata — as a government de facto, and 
providing for a minister — as an entering wedge for a similar 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMEKICAN STATES. 137 

recognition of all the other South American States, when circum- 
stances should favor. In 1817, Mr. Monroe, president of the 
United States, had sent a commission of inquiry to South Amer- 
ica, Messrs. Rodney, Graham, and Bland, to report on the con- 
dition and political prospects of those Spanish provinces, and at 
the next session of Congress, asked for an appropriation to defray 
its expenses. Mr. Clay moved to amend the bill by providing 
for a minister to the La Plata, to be appointed in the discretion 
of the president ; and opened the debate by the following speech 
The entire field of the independence of the South American 
States was, of course, now open, and Mr. Clay entered it with a 
boldness characteristic only of himself — alone in the moral 
power of his sympathy and of his position. He consulted naught 
but his own heart and the cause of freedom. He regarded the 
American continental domains of Spain as occupying precisely 
the position of the North American British colonies, when they 
started and while they were struggling for independence — ex- 
cepting only, that the Spanish colonies had stronger claims for 
freedom, arising from their greater grievances. The political 
prospect was at that moment the most inspiring to every lover 
of freedom, which the world ever beheld. It was nothing less 
than that the entire American continent should become a repub- 
lican empire, in contrast with the European continent groaning 
under a variety of despotisms. Nor did Mr. Clay propose any 
thing that could be construed into a casus belli by Spain. It 
was only to send a minister to a government de facto — a right 
established by public law. Public law, therefore, was in har- 
mony with those sympathies which, at this time and in this 
case, were natural to all American freemen ; and the outburst 
of argument from the mouth of Mr. Clay, on this occasion, came 
down with tremendous effect, not only upon the House of Rep- 
resentatives, but upon the country ; and not only on this coun- 
try, but on the Spanish provinces ; and not only in these 
quarters, but it burst on Spain herself, and on all Europe, as a 
clap of thunder from the skies. It was republican America, 
from Cape Horn to Hudson's Bay, against monarchical Europe, 
from the Mediterranean to Finland, that suddenly started up 
before the surprised imaginations of men — all from this debut of 
Mr. Clay for South American independence. Mr. Clay had now 
come out in this field, armed with a panoply which no weapon 
could pierce ; for he had only proposed to send a minister to a 
government de facto.'] 



138 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

I rise, Mr. Chairman, under feelings of deeper regret than I have ever 
experienced on any former occasion, inspired, principally, by the painful 
consideration, that I find myself, on the proposition which I meant to sub- 
mit, differing from many highly esteemed friends, in and out of this House, 
for whose judgment I entertained the greatest respect. A knowledge of 
this circumstance has induced me to pause; to subject my own convictions 
to the severest scrutiny, and to revolve the question over and over again. 
But all my reflections have conducted me to the same clear result ; and, 
much as I value those friends, great as my deference is for their opinions, 
I can not hesitate, when reduced to the distressing alternative of conform- 
ing my judgment to theirs, or persuing the deliberate and mature dictates 
of my own mind. I enjoy some consolation, for the want of their co- 
operation, from the persuasion that, if I err on this occasion, I err on the 
side of the liberty and happiness of a large portion of the human family. 
Another, and, if possible, indeed a greater, source of the regret to which 
I refer, is the utter incompetency, which I unfeignedly feel, to do any 
thing like adequate justice to the great cause of American independence 
and freedom, whose interest I wish to promote by my humble exertions in 
this instance. Exhausted and worn down as I am, by the fatigue, confine- 
ment, and incessant application incident to the arduous duties of the 
honorable station I hold, during a four-months' session, I shall need 
all that kind indulgence which has been so often extended to me by the 
House. 

I beg, in the first place, to correct misconceptions, if any exist, in regard 
to my opinions. I am averse to war with Spain, or with any power. I 
would give no just cause of war to any power — not to Spain herself. I 
have seen enough of war, and of its calamities, even when successful. No 
country upon earth has more interest than this in cultivating peace and 
avoiding war, as long as it is possible honorably to avoid it. Gaining ad- 
ditional strength every day ; our numbers doubling in periods of twenty- 
five years ; with an income outstripping all our estimates, and so great, as, 
after a war in some respects disastrous, to furnish results which carry 
astonishment, if not dismay, into the bosom of states jealous of our rising 
importance, we have every motives for the love of peace. I can not, 
however, approve, in all respects, of the manner in which our negotiations 
with Spain have been conducted. If ever a favorable time existed for the 
demand, on the part of an injured nation, of indemnity for past wrongs 
from the aggressor, such is the present time. Impoverished and exhausted 
at home, by the wars which have desolated the peninsula, with a foreign 
war, calling for infiuitely more resources, in men and money, than she can 
possibly command, this is the auspicious period for insisting upon justice 
at her hands, in a firm and decided tone. Time is precisely what Spain 
now most wants. Yet what are we told by the president, in his message, 
at the commencement of Congress ? That Spain had procrastinated, aud 
we acquiesced in her procrastination. And the Secretary of State, in a 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMEBIC AN STATES. 139 

lute communication with Mr. Onis, after ably vindicating all our rights, 
tells the Spanish minister, with a good deal of sang froid, that we had 
patiently waited thirteen years for a redress of our injuries, and that it re- 
quired no great effort to wait longer ! I would have abstained from thus 
exposing our intentions. Avoiding the use of the language of menace, 
I would have required, in temperate and decided terms, indemnity for all 
our wrongs ; for the spoliations of our commerce ; for the interruption of 
the right of depot at New Orleans, guarantied by treaty ; for the insults 
repeatedly offered to our flag ; for the Indian hostilities, which she was 
bound to prevent ; for belligerent use made of her ports and territories, by 
our enemy, during the late war ; and the instantaneous liberation of tbe 
free citizens of the United States, now imprisoned in her jails. Cotem- 
poraneous with that .demand, without waiting for her final answer, and 
with a view to the favorable operation on her councils in regard to our 
own peculiar interests, as well as in justice to the cause itself, I would 
recognize any established government in Spanish America. I would 
have left Spain to draw her own inferences from these proceedings, as 
to the ultimate step which this country might adopt, if she longer with- 
held justice from us. And if she persevered in her iniquity, after we have 
conducted the negotiation in the manner I have endeavored to describe, I 
would then take up and decide the solemn question of peace or war, with 
the advantage of all the light shed upon it, by subsequent events, and the 
probable conduct of Europe. 

Spain has undoubtedly given us abundant and just cause of war. But 
it is not every cause of war that should lead to war. War is one of those 
dreadful scourges, that so shakes the foundations of society, overturns or 
changes the character of governments, interrupts or destroys the pursuits 
of private happiness, brings, in short, misery and wretchedness in so many 
forms, and at last is, in its issue, so doubtful and hazardous, that nothing 
but dire necessity can justify an appeal to arms. If we are to have war 
with Spain, I have, however, no hesitation in saying, that no mode of 
brino'inir it about could be less fortunate than that of seizing, at this time, 
upon her adjoining province. There was a time, under certain circum- 
stances, when we might have occupied East Florida with safety ; had we 
then taken it, our posture in the negotiation with Spain would hnve been 
totally different from what it is. But we have permitted that time, not 
with my consent, to pass by unimproved. If we were now to seize upon 
Florida, after a great change in those circumstances, and after declaring 
our intention to acquiesce in the procrastination desired by Spain, in what 
light should we be viewed by foreign powers, particularly Great Britain? 
We have already been accused of inordinate ambition, and of seeking to 
aggrandize ourselves by an extension, on all sides of our limits. Should 
we not, by such an act of violence, give color to the accusation ? No, Mr. 
Chairman ; if we are to be involved in a war with Spain, let us have the 
credit of disinterestedness. Let us put her yet more in the wrong. Let 



140 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

us command the respect which is never withheld from those who act a 
noble and generous part. I hope to communicate to the committee the 
conviction which I so strongly feel, that the adoption of the amendment 
which I intend to propose, would not hazard, in the slightest degree, the 
peace of the country. But if that peace is to be endangered, I would in- 
finitely rather it should be for our exerting the right appertaining to eveiy 
state, of acknowledging the independence of another state, than for the 
seizure of a province, which, sooner or later, we must certainly acquire. 

In contemplating the great struggle in which Spanish America is now 
engaged, our attention is first fixed by the immensity and character of the 
country which Spain seeks again to subjugate. Stretching on the Pacific 
ocean from about the fortieth degree of north latitude to about the fifty- 
fifth degree of south latitude, and extending from the mouth of the Rio 
del Norte (exclusive of East Florida), around the Gulf of Mexico, and 
along the South Atlantic to near Cape Horn ; it is about five thousand 
miles in length, and in some places near three thousand in breadth. 
Within this vast region we behold the most sublime and interesting objects 
of creation ; the loftiest mountains, the most majestic rivers in the world ; 
the richest mines of the precious metals, and the choicest productions of 
the eaith. We behold there a spectacle still more interesting and sublime 
— the glorious spectacle of eighteen millions of people, struggling to burst 
their chains and to be free. When we take a little nearer and more de- 
tailed view, we perceive that nature lias, as it were, ordained that this peo- 
ple and this country shall ultimately constitute several different nations. 
Leaving the United States on the north, we come to New Spain, or the 
vice-royalty of Mexico on the south ; passing by Guatemala, we reach the 
vice-royalty of New Granada, the late captain-generalship of Venezuela, 
and Guiana, lying on the east side of the Andes. Stepping over the 
Brazils, we ariive at the united provinces of La Plata, and crossing the 
Andes, we find Chili on their west side, and, further north, the vice-royalty 
of Lima, or Peru. Each of these several parts is sufficent in itself, in point 
of limits to constitute a powerful State ; and, in point of population, that 
which has the smallest, contains enough to make it respectable. Through- 
out all the extent of that great portion of the world, which I have 
attempted thus hastily to describe, the spiiit of revolt against the dominion 
of Spain has manifested itself. The Revolution has been attended with 
various degrees of success in the several parts of Spanish America. In 
some it has been already crowned, as I shall endeavor to show, with com- 
plete success, and in all I am persuaded that independence has struck such 
deep root, that the power of Spain can never eradicate it. What are the 
causes of this great movement ? 

Three hundred years ago, upon the ruins of- the thrones of Montezuma 
and the Incas of Peru, Spain erected the most stupendous system of 
colonial despotism that the world has ever seen — the most vigorous, the 
most exclusive. The great principle and object of this system, has been, 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 141 

to render one of the largest portions of the world exclusively subservient, 
in all its faculties, to the interest of an inconsiderable spot in Europe. To 
effectuate this aim of her policy, she locked up Spanish America from all 
the rest of the world, and prohibited, under the severest penalties, any 
foreigner from entering any part of it. To keep the natives themselves 
ignorant of each other, and of the strength and resources of the several 
parts of her American possessions, she next prohibited the inhabitants of 
one vice-royalty or government from visiting those of another ; so that the 
inhabitants of Mexico, for example, were not allowed to enter the vice- 
royalty of New Granada. The agriculture of those vast regions was so 
regulated and restrained, as to prevent all collision with the agriculture of 
the peninsula. Where nature, by the character and composition of the 
soil, had commanded, the abominable system of Spain has forbidden, the 
growth of certain articles. Thus the olive and the vine, to which Spanish 
America is so well adapted, are prohibited, wherever their culture can in- 
terfere with the olive and the vine of the peninsula. The commerce of the 
country, in the direction and objects of the exports and imports, is also 
subjected to the narrow and selfish views of Spain, and fettered by the 
odious spirit of monopoly, existing in Cadiz. She has sought, by scatter- 
ing discord among the several castes of her American population, and by 
a debasing course of education, to perpetuate her oppression. Whatever 
concerns public law, or the science of government, all writings upon polit- 
ical economy, or that tend to give vigor, and freedom, and expansion, to 
the intellect, are prohibited. Gentlemen would be astonished by the long 
list of distinguished authors, whom she proscribes, to be found in Depon's 
and other works. A main feature in her policy, is that which constantly 
elevates the European and depresses the American character. Out of 
upward of seven hundred and fifty viceroys and captains-general, whom 
she has appointed since the conquest of America, about eighteen only have 
been from the body of the American population. On all occasions, she 
seeks to raise and promote her European subjects, and to degrade and 
humiliate the Creoles. Wnerever in America her sway extends, every 
thing seems to pine and wither beneath its baneful influence. The richest 
regions of the earth, man, his happiness and his education, all the fine 
faculties of his soul, are regulated, and modified, and molded, to suit the 
execrable purposes of an inexorable despotism. 

Such is a brief and imperfect picture of the state of things in Spanish 
America, in 1808, when the famous transactions of Bayonne occurred. 
The king of Spain and the Indies (for Spanish America has always constitu- 
ted an integral part of the Spanish empire) abdicated his throne and became a 
voluntary captive. Even at this day, one does not know whether he should 
condemn the baseness and perfidy of the one party, or despise the meanness 
and imbecility of the other. If the obligation of obedience and allegiance 
existed on the part of the colonies to the king of Spain, it was founded on 
the duty of protection which he owed them. By disqualifying himself for 



142 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the performance of this duty, they became released from that obligation. 
The monarchy was dissolved ; and each integral part had a right to seek its 
own happiness, by the institution of any new government adapted to its 
wants. Joseph Bonaparte, the successor cle facto of Ferdinand, recognized 
this right on the part of the colonies, and recommended them to establish 
their independence. Thus, upon the ground of strict right; upon the foot- 
ing of a mere legal question, governed by forensic rules, the colonies, being 
absolved by the acts of the parent country from the duty of subjection to 
it, had an indisputable right to set up for themselves. But I take a broad- 
er and a bolder position. I maintain, that an oppressed people are author- 
ized, whenever they can, to rise and to break their fetters. This was the 
great principle of the English Revolution. It was the great principle of our 
own. Vattel, if authority were wanting, expressly supports this right. We 
must pass sentence of condemnation upon the founders of our liberty, say 
that they were rebels, traitors, and that we are at this moment legislating 
without competent powers, before we can condemn the cause of Spanish 
America. Our Revolution was mainly directed against the mere theory of 
tyranny. We had suffered comparatively but little ; we had, in some re- 
spects, been kindly treated ; but our intrepid and intelligent fathers saw, in 
the usurpation of the power to levy an inconsiderable tax, the long train 
of oppressive acts that were to follow. They rose, they breasted the storm ; 
they achieved our freedom. Spanish America for centuries has been doomed 
to the practical effects of an odious tyranny. If we were justified, she is more 
than justified. 

I am no propagandist. I would not seek to force upon other nations our 
principles and our liberty, if they did not want them. I would not disturb 
the repose even of a detestable despotism. But, if an abused and oppressed 
people will their freedom ; if they seek to establish it ; if, in truth, they, 
have established it ; we have a right, as a sovereign power, to notice the 
fact, and to act as circumstances and our interest require. I will say, in the 
language of the venerated father of my country, "born in a land of liberty, 
my anxious recollections, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are 
irresistibly excited, whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation 
unfurl the banners of freedom." Whenever I think of Spanish America 
the image irresstibly forces itself upon my mind, of an elder brother, whose 
education has been neglected, whose person has been abused and maltreat- 
ed, and who has been disinherited by the unkindness of an unnatural pa- 
rent. And, when I contemplate the glorious struggle which that country 
is now making, I think I behold that brother rising, by the power and en- 
ergy of his fine native genius, to the manly rank which nature, and nature's 
God, intended for him. 

If Spanish America be entitled to success from the justness of her cause, 
we have no less reason to wish that success, from the horrible character 
which the royal arms have given to the war. More atrocities, than those 
which have been perpetrated during its existence, are not to be found, even 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 143 

in the annals of Spain herself. And history, reserving some of her black- 
est pages for the name of Morillo, is prepared to place him by the side of 
his great prototype, the infamous desolater of the Netherlands. He who 
has looked into the history of the conduct of this war, is constantly 
shocked at the' revolting scenes which it portrays; at the refusal, on the 
part of the commanders of the royal forces, to treat, on any terms, with 
the other side ; at the denial of quarter ; at the butchery, in cold blood, 
of prisoners ; at the violation of flags, in some cases, after being received, 
with religious ceremonies ; at the instigation of slaves to rise against their 
owners ; and at acts of wanton and useless barbarity. Neither the weak- 
ness of the other sex, nor the imbecility of old age, nor the innocence of 
infants, nor the reverence due to the sacerdotal character, can stay the arm 
of royal vengeance. On this subject, I beg leave to trouble the committee, 
with reading a few passages from a most authentic document, the manifesto 
of the Congress of the United Provinces of Rio del la Plata, published in 
October last. This is a paper of the highest authority ; it is an appeal to 
the world ; it asserts facts of notoriety in the face of the whole world. It 
is not to be credited, that the Congress would come forward with a state- 
ment which was not true, when the means, if it were false, of exposing 
their fabrications, must be so abundant, and so easy to command. It is a 
document, in short, that stands upon the same footing of authority with 
our own papers, promulgated during the Revolution by our Congress. I 
will add, that many of the facts which it affirms, are corroborated by most 
respectable historical testimony, which is in my own possession : 

" Memory shudders at the recital of the horrors that were committed by Gk>y- 
eneche in Cochabamba. Would to heaven it were possible to blot from remem- 
brance the name of that ungrateful and blood-thirsty American ; who, on the 
day of his entry, ordered the virtuous governor and intendant, Antesana, to be 
shot ; who, beholding from the balcony of his house that infamous murder, cried out 
with a ferocious voice to the soldiers, that they must not fire at the head, be- 
cause he wanted it to be affixed to a pole ; and who, after the head w r as taken 
off, ordered the cold corpse to be dragged through the streets ; and, by a bar- 
barous decree, placed the lives and fortunes of the citizens at the mercy of his 
unbridled soldiery, leaving them to exercise their licentious and brutal sway du- 
ring several days. But those blind and cruelly capricious men (the Spaniards) 
rejected the mediation of England, and dispatched rigorous orders to all the gen- 
erals, to aggravate the War, and to punish us with more severity. The scaffolds 
were everywhere multiplied, and invention was racked to devise means for 
spreading murder, distress, and consternation. 

" Thenceforth they made all possible efforts to spread division among us, to 
incite us to mutual extermination ; they have slandered us with the most atro- 
cious calumnies ; accusing us of plotting the destruction of our holy religion, 
the abolition of all morality, and of introducing licentiousness of manners. They 
wage a religious war against us, contriving a thousand artifices to disturb and 
alarm the consciences of the people, making the Spanish bishops issue decrees 
of ecclesiastical condemnation, public excommunications, and disseminating, 



144 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

through the medium of some ignorant confessor, fanatical doctrines in the tribu- 
nal of penitence. By means of these religious discords, they have divided fam- 
ilies against themselves ; they have caused disaffection between parents and 
children ; they have dissolved the tender ties which unite man and wife ; they 
have spread rancor and implacable hatred between brothers most endeared, and 
they have presumed to throw all nature into discord. 

" They have adopted the system of murdering men indiscriminately, to di- 
minish our numbers ; and, on their entry into towns, they have swept off all, 
even the market people, leading them to the open squares, and there shooting 
them one by one. The cities of Chuquisaca and Cochabamba have more than 
once been the theaters of these horrid slaughters. 

" They have intermixed with then- troops, soldiers of ours, whom they had 
taken prisoners, carrying away the officers in chains, to garrisons where it is im- 
possible to preserve health for a year ; they have left others to die in their pris- 
ons, of hunger and misery, and others they have forced to hard labor on the 
public works. They have exultingly put to death our bearers of flags of truce, 
and have been guilty of the blackest atrocities to our chiefs, after they had sur- 
rendered, as well as to other principal characters, in disregard of the humanity 
With which we treated prisoners ; as a proof of it, witness the deputy Mutes 
of Potosi, the Captain-General Pumacagua, General Augulo, and his brother 
Commandant Munecas, and other partisan chiefs, who were shot in cold blood 
after having been prisoners for several days. 

" They took a brutal pleasure in cropping the ears of the natives of the town 
of Ville-Grande, and sending a basket full of them as presents to the head- 
quarters. They afterward burnt that town, and set fire to thirty other towns 
of Peru, and, worse than the worst of savages, shutting the inhabitants up in 
the houses before setting them on fire, that they might be burnt alive. 

" They have not only been cruel and unsparing in their mode of murder, but 
they have been void of all morality and pub he decency, causing aged ecclesias- 
tics and women to be lashed to a gun, and publicly flogged, with the abomina- 
tion of first having them stripped, and their nakedness exposed to shame in the 
presence of their troops. 

" They established an inquisitorial system in all these punishments ; they 
have seized on peaceable inhabitants, and transported them across the sea, to be 
judged for suspected crimes, and they have put a great number of citizens to 
death everywhere, without accusation or the form of a trial. 

" They have invented a crime of unexampled horror, in poisoning our water 
and provisions, when they were conquered by General Pineto at Lapaz ; and in 
return for the kindness with which we treated them, after they had surrendered 
at discretion, they had the barbarity to blow up the head-quarters, under which 
they had constructed a mine, and prepared a train beforehand. 

" He has branded us with the stigma of rebels, the moment he returned to 
Madrid ; he refused to listen to our complaints, or to receive our supplications ; 
and, as an act of extreme favor, he offered us pardon. He confirmed the vice- 
roys, governors, and generals whom he had found actually glutted with carnage- 
He declared us guilty of a high misdemeanor, for having dared to frame a con- 
stitution for our own government, free from the control of a deified, absolute, 
and tyrannical power, under which we had groaned three centuries ; a measure 
that could be offensive only to a prince, an enemy to justice and beneficence, 
and consequently unworthy to rule over us. 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 145 

"He then undertook, with the aid of his ministers, to equip large military ar- 
maments, to be directed against us. He caused numerous armies to be sent out 
to consummate the work of devastation, fire, and plunder. 

" He has sent his generals, with certain decrees of pardon, which they publish 
to deceive the ignorant, and induce them to facilitate their entrance into towns, 
while at the same time he has given them other secret instructions, authorizing 
them, as soon as they could get possession of a place, to hang, burn, confis- 
cate, and sack ; to encourage private assassinations, and to commit every speies 
of injury in their power, against the deluded beings who had confided in his pre- 
tended pardon. It is in the name of Ferdinand of Bourbon, that the heads of 
patriot officers, prisoners, are fixed up in the highways, that they beat and stoned 
to death a commandant of light troops, and that, after having killed Colonel 
Camugo, in the same manner, by the hands of the indecent Centeno, they cut 
off his head, and sent it as a present to General Pazuela, telling him it was a 
miracle of the virgin of the Carmelites." 

In the establishment of the independence of Spanish America, the 
' United States have the deepest interest. I have no hesitation in asserting 
my firm belief, that there is no question in the foreign policy of this coun- 
try which has ever arisen, or which I can conceive as ever occurring, in 
the decision of which we have had or can have so much at stake. This 
interest concerns our politics, our commerce, our navigation. There can 
not be a doubt that Spanish America, once independent, whatever may be 
the form of the governments established in its several parts, these govern- 
ments will be animated by an American feeling! and guided by an Amer- 
ican policy. They will obey the laws of the system of the New World, 
of which they will compose a part, in contradistinction to that of Europe. ^ 
Without the influence of that vortex in Europe, the balance of power be- 
tween its several parts, the preservation of which has so often drenched 
Europe in blood, America is sufficiently remote to contemplate the new wars 
which are to afflict that quarter of the globe, as a calm, if not a cold and 
indifferent spectator. In relation to those wars the several parts of Amer- 
ica will generally stand neutral. And as, during the period when they 
rage, it will be important that a liberal system of neutrality should be 
adopted and observed, all America will be interested in maintaining and 
enforcing such a system. The independence of Spanish America, then, is 
an interest of primary consideration. Next to that, and highly important 
in itself, is the consideration of the nature of their governments. That is 
a question, however, for themselves. They will, no doubt, adopt those 
kinds of government which are best suited to their condition, best cal- 
culated for their happiness. Anxious as I am that they should be freei^ 
governments, we have no right to prescribe for them. They are, and 
ought to be, the sole judges for themselves. I am strongly inclined to be- 
lieve that they will in most, if not all parts of their country, establish free 
governments. We are their great example. Of us they constantly speak 
as of brothers, having a similar origin. They adopt our principles, copy 

10 



146 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

our institutions, and, in many instances, employ the very language and 
sentiments of our revolutionary papers. 

But it is sometimes said that they are too ignorant and too superstitious 
to admit of the existence of free government. This charge of ignorance 
is often urged by persons themselves actually ignorant of the real con- 
dition of that people. I deny the alleged fact of ignorance ; I deny the 
inference from that fact, if it were true, that they want capacity for free 
government ; and I refuse assent to the further conclusion, if the fact were 
true, and the inference just, that we are to be indifferent to their fate. All 
the writers of the most established authority, Depons, Humboldt, and 
others, concur in assigning to the peoj)le of Spanish America great quick- 
ness, genius, and particular aptitude for the acquisition of the exact 
sciences, and others which they have been allowed to cultivate. In astron- 
omy, geology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany, and so forth, they are al- 
lowed to make distinguished proficiency. They justly boast of their 
Abzate, Velasques, and Gama, and other illustrious contributors to science. 
They have nine universities, and in the city of Mexico, it is affirmed by 
Humboldt, that there are more solid scientific establishments than in any 
city even in North America. I would refer to the message of the supreme 
director of La Plata, which I shall hereafter have occasion to use for 
another purpose, as a model of fine composition of a State paper, chal- 
lenging a comparison with any, the most celebrated, that ever issued from 
the pens of Jefferson or Madison. Gentlemen will egregiously err if they 
form their opinions of the present moral condition of Spanish America, 
from what it was under the debasing system of Spain. The eight years' 
revolution in which it has been engaged has already produced a powerful 
effect. Education has been attended to, and genius developed. 

" As soon as the project of the revolution arose on the shores of La Plata, 
genius and talent exhibited their influence ; the capacity of the people became 
manifest, and the means of acquiring knowledge were soon made the favorite 
pursuit of the youth. As far as the wants or the inevitable interruption of af- 
fairs have allowed, every tiling has been done to disseminate useful information. 
The liberty of the press has indeed met with some occasional checks ; but in 
Buenos Ayres alone, as many periodical works weekly issue from the press as 
in Spain and Portugal put together." 

The fact is not therefore true, that the imputed ignorance exists; but, 
if it do, I repeat, I dispute the inference. It is the doctrine of thrones, 
that man is too ignorant to govern himself. Their partizans assert his in- 
capacity, in reference to all nations ; if they can not command universal 
assent to the proposition, it is then demanded as to particular nations ; and 
our pride and our presumption too often make converts of us. I contend 
that it is to arraign the dispositions of Providence himself, to suppose that 
he has created beings incapable of governing themselves, and to be 
trampled on by kings. Self-government is the natural government of 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMEEIOAN STATES. 147 

man, and for proof I refer to the aborigines of our own land. "Were I to 
speculate in hypotheses unfavorable to human liberty, my speculations 
should be founded rather upon the vices, refinements, or density of popula- 
tion. Crowded together in compact masses, even if they were philoso- 
phers, the contagion of the passions is communicated and caught, and the 
effect, too often, I admit, is the overthrow of liberty. Dispersed over such 
an immense space as that on which the people of Spanish America are 
spread, their physical, and I believe also their moral condition, both favor 
their liberty. 

With regard to their superstition, they worship the same God with us. 
Their prayers are offered up in their temples to the same Redeemer, whose 
intercession we expect to save us. Nor is there any thing in the Catholic 
religion unfavorable to freedom. All religions united with government, 
are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are 
compatible with liberty. If the people of Spanish America have not already 
gone as far in religious toleration as we have, the difference in their condi- 
tion from ours should not be forgotten. Every thing is progressive ; and, in 
time, I hope to see them imitating, in this respect, our example.* But grant 
that the people of Spanish America are ignorant, and incompetent for free ' 
government, to whom is that ignorance to be ascribed ? Is it not to the 
execrable system of Spain, which she seeks again to establish and to per- 
petuate ? So far from chilling our hearts, it ought to increase our solici- 
tude for our unfortunate brethren. It ought to animate us to desire the 
redemption of the minds and bodies of unborn millions, from the brutifying 
effects of a system whose tendency is to stifle the faculties of the soul, and 
to degrade them to the level of beasts. I would invoke the spirits of our 
departed fathers. Was it for yourselves only that you nobly fought ? No, 
no ! It was the chains that were forging for your posterity, that made 
you fly to arms, and, scattering the elements of these chains to the winds, 
you transmitted to us the rich inheritance of liberty. 

The exports of Spanish America (exclusive of those of the islands) are 
estimated in the valuable little work of M. Torres, deserving to be better 
known, at about eighty-one millions of dollars. Of these, more than three 
fourths are precious metals. The residue are cocoa, coffee, cochineal, 
sugar, and some other articles. No nation ever offered richer commodities 
in exchange. It is of no material consequence, that we produce but little 
that Spanish America wants. Commerce, as it actually exists in the hands 
of maritime states, is no longer confined to a mere barter, between any 
two States, of their respective productions. It renders tributary to its in- 
terests the commodities of all quarters of the world ; so that a rich Amer- 
ican cargo, or the contents of an American commercial warehouse, present 
you with whatever is rare or valuable, in every part of the globe. Com- 
merce is not to be judged by its results in transactions with one nation 
only. Unfavorable balances existing with one State, are made up by 
contrary balances with other States, and its true value should be tested by 



148 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the totality of its operations. Our greatest trade, that with Great Britain, 
judged by the amount of what we sell for her consumption, and what we 
buy of her for ours, would be pronounced ruinous. But the unfavorable 
balance is covered by the profits of trade with other nations. We may safely 
trust to the daring enterprise of our merchants. The precious metals are 
in South America, and they will command the articles waited in South 
America, which will purchase them. Our navigation will be benefited by 
the transportation, and our country will realize the mercantile profits. Al- 
ready the item in our. exports of American manufactures is respectable. 
They go chiefly to the West Indies and to Spanish America. This item 
is constantly augmenting. And I would again, as I have on another oc- 
casion, ask gentlemen to elevate themselves to the actual importance and 
greatness of our republic ; to reflect, like true American statesmen, that 
we are not legislating for the present day only ; and to contemplate this 
country in its march to true greatness, when millions and millions will be 
added to our population, and when the increased productive industry will 
furnish an infinite variety of fabrics for foreign consumption, in order to 
supply our wants. The distribution of the precious metals has hitherto 
been principally made through the circuitous channel of Cadiz. No one 
can foresee all the effects which will result from a direct distribution of 
them from the mines which produce them. One of these effects will prob- 
ably be, to give us the entire command of the Indian trade. The advan- 
tage we have on the map of the world over Europe, in that respect, is 
prodigious. Again, if England, persisting in her colonial monopoly, con- 
tinues to occlude her ports in the West Indies to us, and we should, as I 
contend we ought, meet her system by a countervailing measure, Venezu- 
ela, New Granada, and other parts of Spanish America, would afford us 
all we get from the British West Indies. I confess that I despair, for the 
present, of adopting that salutary measure. It was proposed at the last 
session, and postponed. During the present session, it has been again pro- 
posed, and, I fear, will be again postponed. I see, and I own it with 
infinite regret, a tone and a feeling in the councils of the country, infinitely 
below that which belongs to the country. It is, perhaps, the moral 
consequence of the exertions of the late war. We are alarmed at dan- 
gers, we know not what ; by specters conjured up by our own vivid im- 
aginations. 

The West India bill is brought up. We shrug our shoulders, talk of 
restrictions, non-intercourse, embargo, commercial warfare, make long faces, 
and — postpone the bill. The time will however come, must come, when 
this country will not submit to a commerce with the British colonies, upon 
the terms which England alone prescribes. And, I repeat, when it arrives, 
Spanish America will afford us an ample substitute. Then, as to our navi- 
gation : gentlemen should recollect, that if reasoning from past experience 
were safe for the future, our great commercial rival will be in war a greater 
number of years than she will be in peace. Whenever she shall be at 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 149 

war, and we are in peace, our navigation being free from the risks and in- 
surance incident to war, we shall engross almost the whole transportation 
of Spanish American commerce. For I do not believe that that coun try 
will ever have a considerable marine. Mexico, the most populous part of 
it, has but two ports, La Vera Cruz and Acapulca, and neither of them 
very good. Spanish America has not the elements to construct a marine. 
It wants, and must always want, hardy seamen. I do not believe, that, 
in the present improved state of navigation, any nation so far south will 
ever make a figure as a maritime power. If Carthage and Rome, in an- 
cient times, and some other states of a later period, occasionally made 
great exertions on the water, it must be recollected that they were 
principally on a small theater, and in a totally different state of the 
art of navigation, or when there was no competition from northern States. 

I am aware that, in oppositien to the interest, which I have been en- 
deavoring to manifest, that this country has in the independence of Span- 
ish America, it is contended that we shall find that couutry a great rival 
in agricultural productions. There is something so narrow, and selfish, and 
groveling, in this argument, if founded in fact, something so unworthy the 
magnanimity of a great and a generous people, that I confess I have scarce- 
ly patience to notice it. LV it is not true to any extent. Of the eighty odd 
millions of exports, only about one million and a half consist of an article 
which can come into competition with us, and that is cotton. The tobac- 
co which Spain derives from her colonies, is chiefly produced in her islands. 
Breadstuffs can nowhere be raised and brought to market in any amount 
materially affecting us. The table-lands of Mexico, owing to their eleva- 
tion, are, it is true, well adapted to the culture of grain ; but the expense 
and difficulty of getting it to the Gulf of Mexico, and the action of the 
intense heat at La Vera Cruz, the only port of exportation, must always 
prevent Mexico from being an alarming competitor. Spanish America is 
capable of producing articles so much more valuable than those which we 
raise, that it is not probable they will abandon a more profitable for a less 
advantageous culture, to come into competition with us. The West India 
islands are well adapted to the raising of cotton ; and yet the more valua- 
ble culture of coffee and sugar is constantly preferred. Again, Providence 
has so ordered it, that, with regard to countries producing articles apparent- 
ly similar, there is some peculiarity, resulting from climate, or from some 
other cause, that gives to each an appropriate place in the general wants 
and consumption of mankind. The southern part of the continent, La 
Plata and Chili, is too remote to rival us. 

The immense country watered by the Mississippi and its branches, has a 
peculiar interest, which I trust I shall be excused for noticing. Having 
but the single vent of New Orleans for all the surplus produce of their in- 
dustry, it is quite evident that they would have a greater security for en- 
joying the advantages of that outlet, if the independence of Mexico upon 
any European power were effected. Such a power, owning at the same 



150 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

time Cuba, the great key of the Gulf of Mexico, and all the shores of that 
gulf, with the exception of the portion between the Perdido and Rio del 
Norte, must have a powerful command over our interests. Spain, it is true, 
is not a dangerous neighbor at present ; but, in the vicissitudes of States, 
her power may be again resuscitated. 

Having shown that the cause of the patriots is just, and that we have a 
great interest in its successful issue, I will next inquire what course of 
policy it becomes us to adopt. I have already declared it to be one of 
strict and impartial neutrality. It is not necessary for their interests, it is 
not expedient for our own, that we should take part in the war. All they 
demand of us is a just neutrality. It is compatible with this pacific policy 
it is required by it, that we should recognize any established government, 
if there be any established government, in Spanish America. Recognition 
alone, without aid, is no just cause of war. With aid, it is ; not because of 
the recognition, but because of the aid ; as aid, without recognition, is 
cause of war. The truth of these propositions I will maintain upon principle, 
by the practice of other States and by the usage of our own. There is no 
common tribunal among nations, to jn'onounce upon the fact of the sover- 
eignty of a new State. Each power does and must judge for itself. It is an 
attribute of sovereignty so to judge. A nation, in exerting this incontest- 
able right, in pronouncing upon the independence, in fact, of a new State, 
takes no part in the war. It gives neither men, nor ships, nor money. It 
merely pronounces that, in so far as it may be necessary to institute any 
relations, or to support any intercourse, with the new power, that power 
is capable of maintaining those relations and authorizing that intercourse. 
Martens and other publicists lay down these principles. 

When the United Provinces formerly severed themselves from Spain, it 
was about eighty years before their independence was finally recognized by 
Spain. Before that recognition, the United Provinces had been received 
by all the rest of Europe, into the family of nations. It is true, that a war 
broke out between Philip and Elizabath, but it proceeded from the aid 
which she determined to give, and did give, to Holland. In no instance, 
I believe, can it be shown, from authentic history, that Spain made war 
upon any power, on the sole ground that such power had acknowledged 
the independence of the United Provinces. 

In the case of our own Revolution, it was not until after France had 
given us aid, and had determined to enter into a treaty of alliance with us 
— a treaty by which she guarantied our independence — that England de- 
clared war. Holland was also charged bv England with favorino- our 
cause, and deviating from the line of strict neutrality. And, when it was 
perceived that she was, moreover, about to enter into a treaty with us, 
England declared war. Even if it were shown that a proud, haughty, and 
powerful nation like England, had made war upon other provinces, on the 
ground of a mere recognition, the single example could not alter the public 
law, or shake the strength of a clear principle. 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 151 

But what has been our uniform practice ? We have constantly pro- 
ceeded on the principle, that the government de facto is that we can alone 
notice. Whatever form of government any society of people adopts, who- 
ever they acknowledge as their sovereign, we consider that government or 
that sovereign as the one to be acknowledged by us. We have invariably 
abstained from assuming a right to decide in favor of the sovereign de jure, 
and against the sovereign de facto. That is a question for the nation in 
which it arises to determine. And, so far as we are concerned, the sove- 
reign de facto is the sovereign de jure. Our own Revolution stands on 
the basis of the right of a people to change their rulers. I do not main- 
tain that every immature revolution, every usurper, before his power is con- 
solidated is to be acknowledged by us ; but that as soon as stability and 
order are maintained, no matter by whom, we always have considered, and 
ought to consider, the actual as the true government. General Washing- 
ton, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, all, while they were respectively presidents, 
acted on these principles. 

In the case of the French republic, General Washington did not wait 
until some of the crowned heads of Europe should set him the example 
of acknowledging it, but accredited a minister at once. And it is remark- 
able, that he was received before the government of the republic was con- 
sidered as established. It will be found in Marshall's Life of Washington, 
that, when it was understood that a minister from the French republic 
was about to present himself, President Washington submitted a number 
of questions to his cabinet for their consideration and advice, one of which 
was, whether, upon the reception of the minister, he should be notified that 
America would suspend the execution of the treaties between the two 
countries, until France had an established government. General Washing- 
ton did not stop to inquire whether the descendants of St. Louis were to 
be considered as the legitimate sovereigns of France, and if the Revolu- 
tion was to be regarded as unauthorized resistance to their sway. He 
saw France, in fact, under the government of those who had subverted 
the throne of the Bourbons, and he acknowledged the actual government. 
Durino- Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's administrations, when the Cortes 
of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte respectively contended for the crown, those 
enlightened statesmen said, We will receive a minister from neither party ; 
settle the question between yourselves, and we will acknowledge the party 
that prevails. We have nothing to do with your feuds ; whoever all Spain 
acknowledges as her sovereign, is the only sovereign with whom we can 
maintain any relations. Mr. Jefferson, it is understood, considered whether 
he should not receive a minister from both parties, and finally decided 
against it, because of the inconveniences to this country, which might re- 
sult from the double representation of another power. As soon as the 
French armies were expelled from the peninsula, Mr. Madison, still acting 
on the principle of the government de facto, received the present minister 
from Spain. During all the phases of the French government, republic, 



152 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

directory, consuls, consul for life, emperor, king, emperor again, king, our 
government has uniformly received the minister. 

If, then, there be an established government in Spanish America, de- 
serving- to rank among the nations, we are morally and politically bound 
to acknowledge it, unless we renounce all the principles which ought to 
guide, and which hitherto have guided, our councils. I shall now under- 
take to show, that the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata possess such 
a government. Its limits, extending from the South Atlantic ocean to the 
Pacific, embrace a territory equal to that of the United States, certainly 
equal to it exclusive of Louisiana. Its population is about three millions, 
more than equal to ours at the commencement of our Revolution. That 
population is a hardy, enterprising, and gallant population. The estab- 
lishments of Montevideo and Buenos Ayres have, during different periods 
of their history, been attacked by the French, Dutch, Danes, Portuguese, 
Euglish, and Spanish ; and such is the martial character of the people, 
that, iu every instance, the attack has been repulsed. In 1807, General 
Whitlocke, commanding a powerful English army, was admitted, under 
the guise of a friend, into Buenos Ayres, and, as soon as he was supposed 
to have demonstrated inimical designs, he was driven by the native and 
unaided force of Buenos Ayres from the country. Buenos Ayres has, 
during now nearly eight years, been, in point of fact, in the enjoyment of 
self-government. The capital, containing more than sixty thousand inhab- 
itants, has never been once lost. As early as 1811, the regency of old 
Spain made war upon Buenos Ayres, and the consequence subsequently 
was the capture of a Spanish army in Montevideo, equal to that of Bur- 
goyne. This government has now, in excellent discipline, three well-ap- 
pointed armies, with the most abundant material of war : the army of 
Chili, the army of Peru, and the army of Buenos Ayres. The first, under 
San Martin, has conquered Chili ; the second is penetratiug in a north- 
western direction from Buenos Ayres, into the vice-royalty of Peru ; and, 
according to the last accounts, had reduced the ancient seat of empire 
of the Incas. The third remains at Buenos Ayres to oppose any force 
which Spain may send against it. To show the condition of the country 
in July last, I again call the attention of the committee to the message 
of the supreme director, delivered to the Congress of the United Prov- 
inces. It is a paper of the same authentic character with the speech of 
the King of England on opening his parliament, or the message of the 
President of the United States at the commencement of Congress. 

" The army of this capital was organized at the same time with those of the 
Andes and of the interior ; the regular force has been nearly doubled ; the mili- 
tia has made great progress in military discipline ; our slave population has been 
formed into battalions, and taught the military art as is consistent with then- 
condition. The capital is under no apprehension that any army of ten thousand 
men can shake its liberties, and should the peninsularians send against us thrice 
that number, ample provision has been made to receive them. 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 153 

" Our navy has been fostered in all its branches. The scarcity of means under 
which we labored until now, has not prevented us from undertaking very con- 
siderable operations, with respect to the national vessels ; all of them have been 
repaired, and others have been purchased and armed, for the defense of our 
coasts and rivers ; and provisions have been made, should necessity require it, for 
arming many more, so that the enemy will not find himself secure from our re- 
prisals, even upon the ocean. 

" Our miltary force at every point which it occupies, seems to be animated 
with the same spirit; its tactics are uniform, and have undergone a rapid 
improvement from the science of experience, which it has borrowed from war- 
like nations. 

" Our arsenals have been replenished with arms, and a sufficient store of can- 
non and munitions of war have been provided, to maintain the contest for 
many years ; and this, after having supplied articles of every description to 
those districts, which have not as yet come into the union, but whose connec- 
tion with us has been only intercepted by reason of our past misfortunes. 

" Our legions daily receive considerable augmentations from new levies ; all 
our preparations have been made, as though we were about to enter upon the 
contest anew. Until now, the vastness of our resources was unknown to us, 
and our enemies may contemplate, with deep mortification and despair, the 
present flourishing state of these provinces after so many devastations. 

" While thus occupied in providing for our safety within, and preparing for 
assaults from without, other objects of solid interest have not been neglected, 
and which hitherto were thought to oppose insurmountable obstacles. 

" Our system of finance had hitherto been on a footing entirely inadequate 
to the unfailing supply of our wants, and still more to the liquidation of the 
immense debt which had been contracted in former years. An unremitted ap- 
plication to this object has enabled me to create the means of satisfying the 
creditors of the State who had already abandoned their debts as lost, as well 
as to devise a fixed mode, by which the taxes may be made to fall equally and 
indirectly on the whole mass of our population. It is not the least merit of this 
operation, that it has been effected in despite of the writings by which it was 
attacked, and which are but little creditable to the intelligence and good inten- 
tions of their authors. At no other period have the public exigences been so 
punctually supplied, nor have more important works been undertaken. 

" The people, moreover, have been relieved from many burdens, which be- 
ing partial, or confined to particular classes, had occasioned vexation and dis- 
gust. Other vexations, scarcely less grievous, will by degrees be also suppressed, 
avoiding, as far as possible, a recurrence to loans, which have drawn after them 
the most fatal consequences to States. Should we, however, be compelled to 
resort to such expedients, the lenders will not see themselves in danger of los- 
ing their advances. 

" Many undertakings have been set on foot for the advancement of the gen- 
eral prosperity. Such has been the re-establishing of the college, heretofore 
named San Carlos, but hereafter to be called the Union of the South, as a point 
designated for the dissemination of learning to the youth of every part of the 
State, on the most extensive scale, for the attainment of which object the 
government is at the present moment engaged in putting in practice every 
possible diligence. It will not be long before these nurseries will flourish, in 
which the liberal and exact sciences will be cultivated, in which the hearts of 



154 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

those young men" will be formed, who are destined at some future day to add 
new splendor to our country. 

" Such has been the establishment of a military depot on the frontier, with 
its spacious magazine, a necessary measure to guard us from future dangers, a 
work which does more' honor to the prudent foresight of our country, as it was 
undertaken in the moment of its prosperous fortunes, a measure which must 
give more occasion for reflection to our enemies than they can impose upon us 
by their boastings. 

" Fellow citizens, we owe our unhappy reverses and calamities to the deprav- 
ing system of our ancient metropolis, which, in condemning us to the obscurity 
and opprobrium of the most degraded destiny, has sown with thorns the path 
that conducts us to liberty. Tell that metropolis that even she may glory in 
your works ! Already have you cleared all the rocks, escaped every danger, 
and conducted these provinces to the flourishing condition in which we now be- 
hold them. Let the enemies of your name contemplate with despair the ener- 
gies of your virtues, and let the nations acknowledge that you already apper- 
tain to their illustrious rank. Let us felicitate ourselves on the blessings we 
have already obtained, and let us show to the world that we have learned to 
profit by the experience of our past misfortunes." 

There is a spirit of bold confidence running through this fine state paper, 
which nothing: but conscious strength could communicate. Their armies, 
their magazines, their finances, are on the most solid and respectable foot- 
ing. And, amid all the cares of war, and those incident to the consol- 
idation of their new institutions, leisure is found to promote the interest of 
science, and the education of the rising generation. It is true the first 
part of the message portrays scenes of difficulty and commotion, the usual 
attendants upon revolution. The very avowal of their troubles manifests, 
however, that they are subdued. And what state, passing through the 
agitation of a great revolution, is free from them ? We had our tories, our 
intrigues, our factions. More than once were the affections of the country, 
and the confidence of our councils, attempted to be shaken in the great 
father of our liberties. Not a Spanish bayonet remains within the immense 
extent of the territories of the La Plata, to contest the authority of the 
actual goverument. It is free, it is independent, it is sovereign. It 
manages the interests of the society that submits to its sway. It is 
capable of maintaining the relations between that society and other na- 
tions. 

Are we not bound, then, upon our own principles, to acknowledge this 
new republic? If we do not, who will? Are we to expect that kings 
will set us the example of acknowledging the only republic on earth, ex- 
cept our own ? We receive, promptly receive, a minister, from whatever 
king sends us one. From the great powers and the little powers, we ac- 
credit ministers. We do more : we hasten to reciprocate the compliment; 
and, anxious to manifest our gratitude for royal civility, we send for a 
minister (as in the case of Sweden and the Netherlands) of the lowest 
grade, one of the highest rank recognized by our laws. We are the 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 155 

natural head of the American family. I would not intermeddle in the 
affairs of Europe. We wisely keep aloof from their broils. I would not 
even intermeddle in those of other parts of America, further than to exert 
the incontestable rights appertaining to us as a free, sovereign, and inde- 
pendent power ; and I contend, that the accrediting of a minister from 
the new republic is such a right. We are bound to receive their minister, 
if we mean to be really neutral. If the royal belligerent is represented and 
heard at our government, the republican belligerent ought also to be heard. 
Otherwise, one party will be in the condition of the poor patriots, who 
were tried ex-parte the other day, in the Supreme Court, without counsel, 
without friends. Give Mr. Ouis his conge, or receive the republican min- 
ister. Unless you do so, your neutrality is nominal. 

I will next proceed to inquire into the consequences of a recognition of 
the new republic. Will it involve us in war with Spain 1 I have shown, 
I trust successfully shown, that there is no just cause of war to Spain. 
Being no cause of war, we have no right to expect that war will ensue. 
If Spain, without cause, will make war, she may make it whether we do 
or do not acknowledge the republic. But she will not, because she can 
not, make war against us. I call the attention of the committee to a re- 
port of the minister of the Hacienda to the King of Spain, presented 
about eight months ago. A more beggarly account of empty boxes was 
never rendered. The picture of Mr. Dallas, sketched in his celebrated re- 
port during the last war, may be contemplated without emotion, after 
surveying that of Mr. Gary. The expenses of the current year required 
eight hundred and thirty million two hundred and sixty-seven thousand 
eight hundred and twenty-nine reals, and the deficit of the income is rep- 
resented as two hundred and thirty-three million one hundred and forty 
thousand nine hundred and thirty-two reals. This, besides an immense 
mass of unliquidated debt, which the minister acknowledges the utter in- 
ability of the country to pay, although bound in honor to redeem it. He 
states, that the vassals of the king are totally unable to submit to any new 
taxes, and the country is without credit, so as to render anticipation by 
loans wholly impracticable. Mr. Gary appears to be a virtuous man, who 
exhibits frankly the naked truth ; and yet such a minister acknowledges, 
that the decorum due to one single family, that of a monarch, does not 
admit, in this critical condition of his country, any reduction of the 
enormous sum of upward of fifty-six millions of reals, set apart to defray 
the expenses of that family! He states that a foreign war would be the 
greatest of all calamities, and one which, being unable to provide for it, 
they ought to employ every possible means to avert. He proposed some 
inconsiderable contribution from the clergy, and the whole body was in- 
stantly in an uproar. Indeed, I have no doubt that, surrounded as Mr. 
Gary is by corruption, by intrigue, and folly, and imbecility, he will bo 
compelled to retire, if he has not already been dismissed, from a post for 
which he has too much integrity. It has been now about four years since 



15G SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the restoration of Ferdinand ; and if, during that period, the whole ener- 
gies of the monarchy have been directed, unsuccessfully, against the 
weakest and most vulnerable of all the American possessions, Venezuela, 
how is it impossible for Spain to encounter the difficulties of a new war 
with this country ? Morillo has been sent out with one of the finest 
armies that has ever left the shores of Europe — consisting of ten thousand 
men, chosen from all the veterans who have fought in the peninsula. It 
has subsequently been reinforced with about three thousand more. And 
yet, during the last summer, it was reduced, by the sword and the climate, 
to about four thousand effective men. And Venezuela, containing a popula- 
tion of only about one million, of which near two thirds are persons of 
color, remains unsubdued. The little island of Margaritta, whose popula- 
tion is less than twenty thousand inhabitants — a population fighting for 
liberty, with more than Roman valor — has compelled that army to retire 
upon the main. Spain, by the late accounts, appeared to be deliberating 
upon the necessity of resorting to that measure of conscription, for which 
Bonaparte has been so much abused. The effect of a war with this coun- 
try would be, to insure success, beyond all doubt, to the cause of Amer 
ican independence. Those parts even, over which Spain has some prospect 
of maintaining her dominions, would probably be put in jeopardy. Such 
a war would be attended with the immediate and certain loss of Florida. 
Commanding the Gulf of Mexico, as we should be enabled to do by our 
navy, blockading the port of Havana, the port of La Vera Cruz, and the 
coast of Terra Firma, and throwing munitions of war into Mexico, Cuba 
would be menanced, Mexico emancipated, and Morillo's army, deprived of 
supplies, now drawn principally from this country through the Havana, 
compelled to surrender. The war, I verily believe, would be terminated in 
less than two years, supposing no other power to interpose. 

Will the allies interfere ? If, by the exertion of an unquestionable at- 
tribute of a sovereign power, we should give no just cause of war to Spain 
herself, how can it be pretended that we should furnish even a specious 
pretext to the allies for making war upon us ? On what ground could 
they attempt to justify a rupture with us, for the exercise of a right which 
we hold in common with them, and with every other independent state ? 
But we have a surer guaranty against their hostility, in their interests. 
That all the allies have an interest in the independence of Spanish 
America, is perfectly evident. On what ground, I ask, is it likely, then, 
that they would support Spain, in opposition to their own decided inter- 
ests ? To crush the spirit of revolt, and prevent the progress of free 
principles? Nations, like individuals, do not sensibly feel, and seldom act 
upon dangers which are remote either in time or place. Of Spanish 
America, but little is known by the great body of the population of 
Europe. Even in this country, the most astonishing ignorance prevails 
respecting it. Those European statesmen who are acquainted with the 
country, will reflect, that, tossed by a great revolution, it will most prob- 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 157 

ably constitute four or five several nations, and that the ultimate modifica- 
tion of all their various governments is by no means absolutely certain. 
But I entertain no doubt that the principle of cohesion among the allies is 
gone. It was annihilated in the memorable battle of Waterloo. When 
the question was, whether one should engross all, a common danger 
united all. How long was it, even with a clear perception of that danger, 
before an effective coalition could be formed ? How often did one power 
stand by, unmoved and indifferent to the fate of its neighbor, although the 
destruction of that neighbor removed the only barrier to an attack upon 
itself? No ; the consummation of the cause of the allies was, and all his- 
tory and all experience will prove it, the destruction of the alliance. The 
principle is totally changed. It is no longer a common struggle against 
the colossal power of Bonaparte, but it has become a common scramble for 
the spoils of his empire. There may, indeed, be one or two points on 
which a common interest still exists, such as the convenience of subsisting 
their armies on the vitals of poor suffering France. But as for action, for 
new enterprises, there is no principle of unity, there can be no accordance 
of interests, or of views, among them. 

What is the coudition in which Europe is left after all its efforts? It 
is divided into two great powers, one having the undisputed command of 
the land, the other of the water. Paris is transferred to St. Petersburg, 
and the navies of Europe are at the bottom of the sea, or concentrated in 
the ports of England. Russia — that huge land animal — awing by the 
dread of her vast power all continental Europe, is seeking to encompass 
the Porte ; and, constituting herself the kraken of the ocean, is anxious to 
lave her enormous sides in the more genial waters of the Mediterranean. 
It is said, I know, that she has indicated a disposition to take part with 
Spain. No such thing. She has sold some old worm-eaten, decayed, fir- 
built ships to Spain, but the crews which navigate them are to return from 
the port of delivery, and the bonus she is to get, I believe to be the island 
of Minorca, in conformity with the cardinal point of her policy. France 
is greatly interested in whatever would extend her commerce and regener- 
ate her marine, and consequently, more than any other power of Europe, 
England alone excepted, is concerned in the independence of Spanish 
America. I do not despair of France so long as France has a legislative 
body collected from all its parts, the great repository of its wishes and its 
will. Already has that body manifested a spirit of considerable independ- 
ence. And those who, conversant with French history, know what mag- 
nanimous stands have been made by the parliaments, bodies of limited 
extent, against the royal prerogative, will be able to appreciate justly the 
moral force of such a legislative body. While it exists, the true interests 
of France will be cherished and pursued on points of foreign policy, in op- 
position to the pride and interests of the Bourbon family, if the actual 
dynasty, impelled by this pride, should seek to subserve these interests. 

England finds that, after all her exertions, she is everywhere despised 



158 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

on the continent ; her maritime power viewed with jealousy ; her com- 
merce subjected to the most onerous restrictions ; selfishness imputed to 
all her policy. All accounts from France represent that every party, 
Bonapartists, Jacobins, royalists, moderes, ultras, all burn with indignation 
toward England, and pant for an opportunity to avenge themselves on the 
power to whom they ascribe all their disasters. 

It is impossible that with powers, between whom so much cordial dis- 
like, so much incongruity exists, there can be any union or concert. 
While the free principles of the French Revolution remained, those prin- 
ciples were so alarming to the stability of thrones, there never was any 
successful or cordial union ; coalition after coalition, wanting the spirit of 
union, was swept away by the overwhelming power of France. It was 
not until those principles were abandoned, and Bonaparte had erected on 
their ruins his stupendous fabric of universal emj)ire ; nor, indeed, until 
after the frosts of heaven favored the cause of Europe, that an effective 
coalition was formed. No, the complaisance inspired in the allies from 
unexpected, if not undeserved success, may keej) them nominally together ; 
but for all purposes of united and combined action, the alliance is gone ; 
and I do not believe in the chimera of their crusading against the inde- 
pendence of a country, whose liberation would essentially promote all their 
respective interests. 

But the question of the interposition of the allies, in the event of our 
recognizing the new republic, resolves itself into a question, whether En- 
gland, in such an event, would make war upon us ; if it can be shown 
that England would not, it results, either that the other allies would not, 
or that, if they should, in which case England would most probably sup- 
port the cause of America, it would be a war without the maritime ability 
to maintain it. I contend that England is alike restrained by her honor 
and by her interests from waging war against us, and consequently against 
Spanish America also, for an acknowledgment of the independence of the 
new State. England encouraged and fomented the revolt of the colonies 
as early as June, 1797. Sir Thomas Picton, governor of Trinidad, in vir- 
tue of orders from the British minister of foreign affairs, issued a procla- 
mation, in which he expressly assures the inhabitants of Terra Firma that 
the British government will aid in establishing their independence : 

" With regard to the hope you entertain of raising the spirits of those per- 
sons with whom you are in correspondence, toward encouraging the inhabitants 
to resist the oppressive authority of their government, I have little more to say 
than that they may be certain, that whenever they are in that disposition, they 
may receive at your hands all the succors to be expected from his Britannic 
majesty, be it with forces or with arms and ammunition to any extent ; with the 
assurance that the views of his Britannic majesty go no further than to secure 
to them their independence," and so forth. 

In the prosecution of the same object, Great Britain defrayed the ex- 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 159 

penses of the famous expedition of Miranda. England, in 1811, when she 
was in the most intimate relations with Spain, then struggling against the 
French power, assumed the attitude of a mediator between the colonies, 
and the peninsula. The terms, on which she conceived her mediation 
could alone be effectual, were rejected by the Cortes, at the lowest state of 
the Spanish power. Among these terms, England required for the colo- 
nies a perfect freedom of commerce, allowing only some degree of prefer- 
ence to Spain ; that the appointments of viceroys and governors should be 
made indiscriminately from Spanish Americans and Spaniards ; and that 
the interior government, and every branch of public administration, should 
be intrusted to the cabildo, or municipalities, and so forth. If Spain, when 
Spain Avas almost reduced to the island of St. Leon, then rejected those 
conditions, will she now consent to them, amounting, as they do, substan- 
tially, to the independence of Spanish America ? If England, devoted as 
she was at that time to the cause of the peninsula, even then thought 
those terms due to the colonies, will she now, when no particular motive 
exists for cherishing the Spanish power, and after the ingratitude with 
which Spain has treated her, think that the colonies ought to submit to 
less favorable conditions ? And would not England stand disgraced in the 
eyes of the whole world, if, after having abetted and excited a revolution, 
she should now attempt to reduce the colonies to unconditional submission, 
or should make war upon us for acknowledging that independence which 
she herself sought to establish ? 

No guaranty for the conduct of nations or individuals ought to be 
stronger than that which honor imposes ; but for those who put no confi- 
dence in its obligations, I have an argument to urge of more conclusive 
force. It is founded upon the interest of England. Excluded almost as 
she is from the continent, the commerce of America, South and North, is 
worth to her more than the commerce of the residue of the world. That 
to all Spanish America has been alone estimated at fifteen millions sterling. 
Its aggregate value to Spanish America and the United States may be 
fairly stated at upward of one hundred thousand dollars. The effect of a 
war with the two countries would be, to divest England of this great inter- 
est, at a moment when she is anxiously engaged in repairing the ravages 
of the European war. Looking to the present moment only, and merely 
to the interests of commerce, England is concerned more than even this 
country, in the success of the cause of independence in Spanish America. 
The reduction of the Spanish power in America has been the constant and 
favorite aim of her policy for two centuries ; she must blot out her whole 
history, reverse the maxims of all her illustrious statesmen, extinguish the 
spirit of commerce which animates, directs, and controls all her movements, 
before she can render herself accessory to the subjugation of Spanish 
America. No commercial advantages which Spain may offer by treaty, 
can possess the security for her trade, which independence would commu- 
nicate. The one would be most probably of limited duration, and liable 



160 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

to violation from policy, from interest, or from caprice. The other would 
be as permanent as independence. That I do not mistake the views of the 
British cabinet, the recent proclamation of the prince-regent I think proves. 
The committee will remark, that the document does not describe the pa- 
triots as rebels, or insurgents, but using a term which I have no doubt has 
been well weighed, it declares the existence of a " state of warfare." And 
with regard to English subjects, who are in the armies of Spain, although 
they entered the service without restriction as to their military duties, it re- 
quires that they shall not take part against the colonies. The subjects of 
England freely supply the patriots with arms and ammunition, and an hon- 
orable friend of mine (Colonel Johnson) has just received a letter from one 
of the West India islands, stating the arrival there from England of the 
skeletons of three regiments, with many of the men to fill them, destined 
to aid the patriots. In the Quarterly Review of November last, a journal 
devoted to the ministry, and a work of the highest authority, as it respects 
their views, the policy of neutrality is declared and supported as the true 
policy of England ; and that, even if the United States were to take part 
in the war ; and Spain is expressly notified, that she can not and must not 
expect aid from England. 

" In arguing, therefore, for the advantage of a strict neutrality, we must en- 
ter an early protest against any imputations of hostility to the cause of genuine 
freedom, or of any passion for despotism and the inquisition. We are no more 
the panegyrists of legitimate authority in all times, circumstances, and situations, 
than we are advocates for revolution in the abstract," and so forth. " But it has 
been plausibly asserted, that, by abstaining from interference in the affairs of 
South America, we are surrendering to the United States all the advantages 
which might be secured to ourselves from this revolution ; that we are assisting 
to increase the trade and power of a nation which alone can ever be the mari- 
time rival of England. It appears to us extremely doubtful, whether any ad- 
vantage, commercial or political, can be lost to England by a neutral conduct; 
it must be observed, that the United States themselves, have given every public 
proof of their intention to pursue the same line of policy. But admitting that 
this conduct is nothing more than a decent pretext ; or admitting, still farther, 
that they will afford to the independents direct and open assistance, our view of 
the case would remain precisely the same," and so forth. <( To persevere in force, 
unaided, is to miscalculate her (Spain's) own resources, even to infatuation. To 
expect the aid of an ally in such a cause would, if that ally were England, be 
to suppose this country as forgetful of its own past history as of its immediate 
interests and duties. Far better would it be for Spain, instead of calling for our 
aid, to profit by our experience ; and to substitute, ere it be too late, for efforts 
like those by which the North American colonies were lost to this country, the 
conciliatory measures by which they might have been retained." 

In the case of the struggle between Spain and her colonies, England, 
for once, at least, has manifested a degree of wisdom highly deserving our 
imitation, but unfortunately the very reverse of her course has been pur- 



EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. 161 

sued by us. She has so conducted, by operating upon the hopes of the 
two parties, as to keep on the best terms with both ; to enjoy all the ad- 
vantages of the rich commerce of both. We have, by a neutrality bill 
containing unprecedented features, and still more by a late executive meas- 
ure, to say the least of it, of doubtful constitutional character, contrived to 
dissatisfy both parties. Wc have the confidence neither of Spain nor the 
colonies. 

It remains for me to defend the proposition which I meant to submit, 
from an objection which I have heard intimated, that it interferes with the 
duties assigned to the executive branch. On this subject I feel the greatest 
solicitude ; for no man more than myself, respects the preservation of the 
independence of the several departments of government, in the constitu- 
tional orbits which are prescribed to them. It is my favorite maxim, that 
each, acting within its proper sphere, should move with its constitutional 
independence, and under its constitutional responsibility, without influence 
from any other. I am perfectly aware that the Constitution of the United 
States — and I admit the proposition in its broadest sense — confides to the 
executive the reception and the deputation of ministers. But, in relation 
to the latter operation, Congress has concurrent will in the power of pro- 
viding for the payment of their salaries. The instrument nowhere says or 
implies that the executive act of sending a minister to a foreign country, 
shall precede the legislative act which provides for the payment of his 
salary. And, in point of fact, our statutory code is full of examples of 
legislative action prior to executive action, both in relation to the deputa- 
tion of agents abroad, and to the subject-matter of treaties. Perhaps the 
act of sending a minister abroad, and the act of providing for the allow- 
ance of his salary, ought to be simultaneous ; but if, in the order of pre- 
cedence, there be more reason on the one side than on the other, I think 
it is in favor of the priority of the legislative act, as the safer depository 
of power. When a minister is sent abroad, although the legislature may 
be disposed to think his mission useless ; although, if previously con- 
sulted, they would have said they would not consent to pay such a min- 
ister ; the duty is delicate and painful to refuse to pay the salary promised 
to him whom the executive has even unnecessarily sent abroad. I can 
illustrate my idea by the existing missions to Sweden and to the Nether- 
lands. I have no hesitation in saying, that if we had not ministers of the 
first grade there, and if the legislature were asked, prior to sending them, 
whether it would consent to pay ministers of that grade, I would not, and 
I believe Congress would not, consent to pay them. 

If it be urged that by avowing our willingness in a legislative act, to pay 
a minister not yet sent, and whom the president may think it improper to 
send abroad, we operate upon the president by all the force of our opinion ; 
it may be retorted, that when we are called upon to pay any minister, sent 
under similar circumstances, we are operated upon by all the force of the 
president's opinion. The true theory of our government, at least, supposes 

11 



162 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

that each of the two departments, acting on its proper constitutional re- 
sponsibility, will decide according to its best judgment, under all the cir- 
cumstances of the case. If we make the previous appropriation, we act 
upon our constitutional responsibility, and the president afterward will pro- 
ceed upon his. And so if he makes the previous appointment. We have 
the right, after a minister is sent abroad, and we are called upon to pay 
him, and we ought to deliberate upon the propriety of bis mission ; we 
may and ought to grant or withhold his salary. If this power of delibe- 
ration is conceded subsequently to the deputation of the minister, it must 
exist prior to that deputation. Whenever we deliberate, we deliberate 
under our constitutional responsibility. Pass the amendment I propose, 
and it will be passed under that responsibility. Then the president, when 
he deliberates on the propriety of the mission, will act under his constitu- 
tional responsibility. Each branch of government, moving in its proper 
sphere, will act with as much freedom from the influence of the other as 
is practically attainable. 

There is great reason, from the peculiar character of the American gov- 
ernment, for a perfect understanding between the legislative and executive 
branches, in relation to the acknowledgment of a new power. Everywhere 
else the power of declaring war resides with the executive. Here it is 
deposited with the Legislature. If, contrary to my opinion, there be even 
a risk that the acknowledgment of a new state may lead to war, it is ad- 
visable that the step should not be taken without a previous knowledge of 
the will of the war-making branch. I am disposed to give to the presi- 
dent all the confidence which he must derive from the unequivocal expres- 
sion of our will. This expression I know may be given in the form of an 
abstract resolution, declaratory of that will ; but I prefer at this time pro- 
posing an act of practical legislation. And if I have been so fortunate as 
to communicate to the committee, in any thing like that degree of strength 
in which I entertain them, the convictions that the cause of the patriots is 
just ; that the character of the war, as waged by Spain, should induce us 
to wish them success ; that we have a great interest in that success ; 
that this interest, as well as our neutral attitude, requires us to ac- 
knowledge any established government in Spanish America ; that the 
United Provinces of the river Platte is such a government ; that we may 
safely acknowledge its independence, without danger of war from Spain, 
from the allies, or from England ; and that, without unconstitutional inter- 
ference with the executive power, with peculiar fitness, we may express, in 
an act of approbation, our sentiments, leaving him to an exercise of a just 
and responsible discretion ; I hope the committee will adopt the proposi- 
tion which I have now the honor of presenting to them, after a respectful 
tender of my acknowledgments for their attention and kindness, during, I 
fear, the tedious period I have been so unprofitably trespassing upon their 
patience. 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA, 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 28, 1818. 

[The following speech, as will be seen, is a mere continuation 
of the preceding one, after the subject had been debated by- 
others, and in reply to the opponents of Mr. Clay's amendment. 
The prima facie views of the former speech, occupy a distinct 
position on the naked merits of the question ; whereas this 
second speech is characterised chiefly by a refutation of the 
objections which had been raised against Mr. Clay's proposal. 
His motion, doubtless, took the House by surprise, as being too 
bold a measure, though we can not now see why it should be so 
regarded, especially in the light of Mr. Clay's argument. The 
prudence of its opponents strikes the reader of history as a cen- 
surable and truckling timidity. In the first place, there was no 
cause of war in what Mr. Clay proposed, and it was absurd to 
suppose that Spain would resent it as such, in the condition of 
her finances ; and in the protracted struggle of these South 
American provinces against the mother country, they had 
acquired advantages sufficient to justify a recognition of their 
independence, by all the world. They were in fact independent, 
and were becoming more and more so every year. Spain could 
neither hold, nor reduce them. Still it was a difficult matter to 
persuade the government of the United States of North America 
to recognize this position of our southern and sister republics, 
and Mr. Clay was the only man that would take the lead in it. 
To his immortal honor, he allowed himself to be borne onward 
by the current of his sympathies — a movement visible to all the 
world, and which made an ineffaceable impression of gratitude 
on the people of those countries whose cause and independence 
he so gallantly advocated in the time of their greatest need. 
Henry Clay, of North America, was loved by them, celebrated in 
song, and monuments of gratitude were erected to his memory, 
which are standing to this day. Thanks were voted him by the 
governments of those States, and his name, as a heroic advocate 
of their independence, is incorporated with their history. 



164 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

But Mr. Clay's amendment was lost by a vote of one hundred 
and fifteen against forty-five. Even forty-five was a strong vote, 
considering that the motion was sprung upon the House so sud- 
denly. The recognition of the independence of the South 
American States, by the government of the United States, was 
now in Mr. Clay's hands, and it remained for him to achieve its 
consummation as he did two years afterward.] 

Mr. CnAiRMAN : The first objection which I think it incumbent on me 
to notice, is that of my friend from South Carolina (Mr. Lowndes), who op- 
posed the form of the proposition, as being made on a general appropria- 
tion bill, on which he appeared to think nothing ought to be engrafted 
which was likely to give rise to a difference between the two branches 
of the Legislature. If the gentleman himself had always acted on this 
principle, his objection would be entitled to more weight ; but, the item in 
the appropriation bill next following this, and reported by the gentleman 
himself, is infinitely more objectionable — which is, an appropriation of 
thirty thousand dollars for defraying the expenses of three commissioners, 
appointed or proposed to be paid in an unconstitutional form. It can not 
be expected that a general appropriation bill will ever pass without some 
objectionable clauses, and in case of a difference between the two Houses 
(a difference which we have no right to anticipate in this instance), which 
can not be compromised as to any article, the obvious course is, to omit 
such article altogether, retaining all the others ; and, in a case of this 
character, relative to brevet pay, which has occurred during the present 
session, such has been the ground the gentleman himself has taken in a 
conference with the Senate, of which he is a manager. 

The gentleman from South Carolina, has professed to concur with me in 
a great many of his general propositions ; and neither he nor any other 
gentleman has disagreed with me, that the mere recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the provinces is no cause of war with Spain, except the gen- 
tleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith), to whom I recommend, without 
intending disrespect to him, to confine himself to the operation of com- 
merce, rather than undertake to expound questions of public law ; for I 
can assure the gentleman, that, although he may make some figure, with 
his practical knowledge, in the one case, he will not in the other. No 
man, except the gentleman from Maryland, has had what I should call the 
hardihood to contend, that, on the ground of principle and mere public 
law, the exercise of the right of recognizing another power is the cause of 
war. But though the gentleman from South Carolina admitted, that the 
recognition would be no cause of war, and that it was not likely to lead to 
a war with Spain, we find him, shortly after, getting into a war with Spain, 
how, I do not see, and by some means, which he did not deign to discover 
to us getting us into a war with England also. Having satisfied himself, 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMEEICA. 165 

by this course of reasoning, the gentleman has discovered, that the finances 
of Spain are in a most favorable condition. On this part of the subject, it 
is not necessary for me to say any thing after what the committee has 
heard from the eloquent gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Holmes), 
whose voice, in a period infinitely more critical in our affairs than the 
present, has been heard with so much delight from the East in support of 
the rights and honor of the country. He has clearly shown, that there is 
no parallel between the state of Spain and of this country — the one of a 
country whose resources are completely impoverished and exhausted, the 
other of a country whose resources are almost untouched. But, I would ask 
of the gentleman from South Carolina, if he can conceive that a State, in 
the condition of Spain, whose minister of the treasury admits that the 
people have no longer the means of paying new taxes — a nation with an 
immense mass of floating debt, and totally without credit — can feel any 
anxiety to engage in a war with a nation like this, whose situation is, in 
every possible view, directly the reverse ? I ask, if an annual revenue, 
equal only to five eighths of the annual expenditure, exhibits a financial 
ability to enter upon a new war, when, too, the situation of Spain is alto- 
gether unlike that of the United States and England, whose credit, resting 
upon a solid basis, enables them to supply, by loans, any deficit in their 
income ? 

Notwithstanding the diversity of sentiment which has been displayed 
during the debate, I am happy to find that, with one exception, every 
member has done justice to the struggle in the South, and admitted it to 
be entitled to the favor of the best feelings of the human heart. Even 
my honorable friend near me (Mr. Nelson) has made a speech on our side, 
and we should not have found out, if he had not told us, that he would 
vote against us. Although his speech has been distinguished by his ac- 
customed eloquence, I should be glad to agree on a cartel with the gen- 
tlemen on the other side of the House, to give them his speech for his 
vote. The gentleman says his heart is with us, that he ardently desires the 
independence of the South. Will he excuse me for telling him, that if he 
will give himself up to the honest feelings of his heart, he will have a much 
surer guide than by trusting to his head, to which, however, I am far from 
offering any disparagement ? 

But, sir, it seems that a division of the republican party is about to bo 
made by the proposition. Who is to furnish, in this respect, the correct 
criterion — whose conduct to be the standard of orthodoxy ? What has 
been the great principle of the party to which the gentleman from Vir- 
ginia refers, from the first existence of the government to the present day ? 
An attachment to liberty, a devotion to the great cause of humanity, of 
freedom, of self-government, and of equal rights. If there is to be a 
division, as the gentleman says ; if he is going to leave us, who are follow- 
ing the old track, he may, in his new connections, find a great variety of 
company, which, perhaps, may indemnify him for the loss of his old 



166 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

friends. What is the great principle that has distinguished parties in all 
ao-es, and under all governments — democrats and federalists, whigs and 
tories, plebeians and patricians 1 The one, distrustful of human nature, 
appreciates less the influence of reason and of good dispositions, and ap- 
peals more to physical force ; the other party, confiding in human nature, 
relies much upon moral power, and applies to force as an auxiliary only to 
the operations of reason. All the modifications and denominations of 
political parties and sects may be traced to this fundamental distinction. 
It is that which separated the two great parties in this country. If there 
is to be a division in the republican party, I glory that I, at least, am 
found among those who are anxious for the advancement of human rights 
and of human liberty ; and the honorable gentleman who spoke of appeal- 
ing to the public sentiment, will find, when he does so, or I am much mis- 
taken, that public sentiment is also on the side of public liberty and of 
human happiness. 

But the gentleman from South Carolina has told us, that the Constitu- 
tion has wisely confided to the executive branch of the government, the 
administration of the foreign interests of the country. Has the honorable 
gentleman attempted to show, though his proposition be generally true, 
and will never be controverted by me, that we also have not our participa- 
tion in the administration of the foreign concerns of the country, when we 
are called upon, in our legislative capacity, to defray the expenses of for- 
eign missions, or to regulate commerce ? I stated, when up before, and I 
have listened in vain for an answer to the argument, that no part of the 
Constitution says which shall have the precedence, the act of making the 
appropriation for paying a minister, or of sending one. I have contended 
and now repeat, that either the acts of deputing or paying a minister 
should be simultaneous, or, if either has the preference, the act of appro- 
priating his pay should precede the sending of a minister. I challenge 
gentlemen to show me any thing in the Constitution which directs that a 
minister shall be sent before his payment is provided for. I repeat, what 
I said the other day, that, by sending a minister abroad, during the recess, 
to nations between whom and us no such relations existed as to justify in- 
curring the expense, the legislative opinion is forestalled, or unduly biased. 
I appeal to the practice of the government, and refer to various acts of 
Congress for cases of appropriations, without the previous deputation of the 
agent abroad, and without the preliminary of a message from the president, 
asking for them. 

[Here Mr. Clay cited a case where Congress led the way and the president 
followed.] 

From these it appears that Congress has constantly pursued the great 
principle of the theory of the Constitution, for which I now contend — 
that each department of the government must act within its own sphere, 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 167 

independently, and on its own responsibility. It is a little extraordinary, 
indeed, after the doctrine which was maintained the other day, of a sweep- 
ing right in Congress to appropriate money to any object, that it should 
now be contended that Congress has no right to appropriate money to a 
particular object. The gentleman's (Mr. Lowndes's) doctrine is broad, 
comprehending every case ; but, when proposed to be exemplified in any 
specific case, it does not apply. My theory of the Constitution on this par- 
ticular subject, is, that Congress has the right of appropriating money for 
foreign missions, the president the power to use it. The president having 
the power, I am willing to say to him, " Here is the money, which we alone 
have a right to appropriate, which will enable you to carry your power 
into effect, if it seems expedient to you." Both being before him, the 
power and the means of executing it, the president would judge, on bis own 
responsibility, whether or not it was expedient to exercise it. In this course, 
each department of the government would act independently, without in- 
fluence from, and without interference with, the other. I have stated cases, 
from the statute-book, to show, that, in instances where no foreign agent has 
been appointed, but only a possibility of their being appointed, appropriations 
have been made for paying them. Even in the case of tbe subject-matter of 
negotiation (a right much more important than that of sending an agent), 
an appropriation of money has preceded the negotiation of a treaty — thus, 
in the third volume of the new edition of the laws, page twenty-seven, is a 
case of an appropriation of twenty-five thousand eight hundred and eighty 
dollars to defray the expense of such treaties as the President of the United 
States might deem proper to make with certain Indian tribes. An act, which 
has been lately referred to, appropriating two millions for the purchase of 
Florida, is a case still more strongly in point, as contemplating a treaty not 
with a savage, but with a civilized power. In this case there may have 
been, though I believe there was not, an executive message, recommend- 
ing the appropriation ; but I take upon myself to assert, that, in almost all 
the cases I have quoted, there was no previous executive intimation that the 
appropriation of the money was necessary to the object ; but Congress has 
taken up the subject, and authorized these appropriations, without any offi- 
cial call from the executive to do so. 

With regard to the general condition of the provinces now in revolt 
against the parent country, I will not take up much of the time of the 
House. Gentlemen are, however, much mistaken as to many of the points 
of their history, geography, commerce, and produce, which have been 
touched upon. Gentlemen have supposed there would be from those coun- 
tries a considerable competition of the same products which we export. I 
venture to say, that, in regard to Mexico, there can be no such competi- 
tion ; that the table-lands are at such a distance from the sea-shore, and the 
difficulty of reaching it is so great, as to make the transportation to La 
Vera Cruz too expensive to be borne, and the heat so intense as to destroy 
the bread-stuffs as soon as they arrive. With respect to New Granada, 



168 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the gentleman from Maryland is entirely mistaken. It is the elevation of 
Mexico, principally, which enables it to produce bread-stuff's ; but New 
Granada, lying nearly under the line, can not produce them. The produc- 
tions of New Granada for exportation, are the precious metals (of which, of 
gold, particularly, a greater portion is to be found there than in any of the 
provinces, except Mexico), sugar, coffee, cocoa, and some other articles of 
a similar character. Of Venezuela, the principal productions are coffee, co- 
coa, indigo, and some sugar. Sugar is also produced in all the Guianas — « 
French, Spanish, and Dutch. The interior of the provinces of La Plata 
may be productive of bread-stuffs, but they are too remote to come into 
competition with us in the West India market, the voyages to the United 
States generally occupying from fifty to sixty days, and sometimes as long 
as ninety days. By deducting from that number the average passage from 
the United States to the West Indies, the length of the usual passage be- 
tween Buenos Ayres and the West Indies, will be found, and will show that, 
in the supply of the West India market with bread-stuffs, the provinces can 
never come seriously into competition with us. And in regard to Chili, 
productive as it may be, does the gentleman from Maryland suppose that 
vessels are going to double Cape Horn and come into competition with us 
in the West Indies ? It is impossible. 

But I feel a reluctance at pursuing the discussion of this part of the 
question, because I am sure these are considerations on which the House 
can not act, being entirely unworthy of the subject. We may as well stop 
all our intercourse with England, with France, or with the Baltic, whose 
products are, in many respects, the same as ours, as to act on the present 
occasion under the influence of any such considerations. It is too selfish, 
too mean a principle for this body to act on, to refuse its sympathy for the 
patriots of the South because some little advantage of a commercial na- 
ture may be retained to us from their remaining in their present condition, 
which, however, I totally deny. Three fourths of the productions of the 
Spanish provinces are the precious metals, and the greater part of the res- 
idue not of the same character as the staple productions of our soil. But 
it seems that a pamphlet has recently been published on this subject to 
which gentlemen have referred. Now permit me to express a distrust of 
all pamphlets of this kind unless we know their source. It may, for 
aught I know, if not composed at the instance of the Spanish minister, 
have been written by some merchant who has a privilege of trading to 
Lima under royal license ; for such do exist, as I am informed, and some 
of them procured under the agency of a celebrated person by the name of 
Sarmiento, of whom, perhaps, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith) 
can give the House some information. To gentlemen thus privileged to trade 
with the Spanish provinces, under royal authority, the effect of a recogni- 
tion of the independence of the provinces would be to deprive them of that 
monopoly. The reputed author of the pamphlet in question, if I under- 
stand correctly, is one who has been, if he is not now, deeply engaged in 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 169 

the trade, and I will venture to say that many of his statements are in- 
correct. In relation to the trade of Mexico, I happen to possess the 
Royal Gazette of Mexico of 1804, showing what was the trade of that 
province in 1803 ; from which it appears that, without making allowance 
for the trade from the Philippine Islands to Acapulco, the imports into the 
port of Vera Cruz were, in that year, twenty-two millions in value, exclu- 
sive of contraband, the amount of which was very considerable. Among 
those articles were many which the United States could supply as well, if 
not on better terms, than they could be supplied from any other quarter ; 
for example, brandy and spirits, paper, iron, implements for agriculture and 
the mines; wax, spices, naval stores, salt fish, butter, provisions; these 
articles amounting, in the whole, to one seventh part of the whole import 
trade to Mexico. With regard to the independence of that country, which 
gentlemen seem to think improbable, I rejoice that I am able to congratu- 
late the House that we have, this morning, intelligence that Mina yet lives, 
and the patriot flag is still unfurled, and the cause infinitely more pros- 
perous than ever. This intelligence I am in hopes will prove true, not- 
withstanding the particular accounts of his death which, as there is so 
much of fabrication and falsehood in the Spanish practice, are not entitled 
to credit, unless corroborated by other information. Articles are manufac- 
tured in one province to produce effect on other provinces, and in this 
country ; and I am, therefore, disposed to think that the details respecting 
the capture and execution of Mina are too minute to be true, and were 
made up to produce an effect here. 

With regard to the general value of the trade of a country, it is to be 
determined by the quantum of its population, and its character, its produc- 
tions, and the extent and character of the territory ; and, applying these 
criteria to Spanish America, no nation offers higher inducements to com- 
mercial enterprise. Washed on the one side by the Pacific, on the other by 
the south Atlantic ; standing between Africa and Europe on the one hand, 
and Asia on the other ; lying alongside of the United States ; her com- 
merce must, when free from the restraints of despotism, be immensely im- 
portant ; particularly when it is recollected how great a proportion of the 
precious metals it produces; for that nation which can command the 
precious metals, may be said to command almost the resources of the 
world. For one moment, imagine the mines of the South locked up from 
Great Britain for two years, what would be the effect on her paper system ? 
Bankruptcy, explosion, revolution. Even if the supply which we get 
abroad of the precious metals was cut off for any length of time, I ask if 
the effect on our paper system would not be, not perhaps equally as fatal 
as to England, yet one of the greatest calamities which could befall 
this country? The revenue of Spain, in Mexico alone, was, in 1809, 
twenty millions of dollars, and in the other provinces in about the same 
proportion, taking into view their population, independent of the immense 
contributions annually paid to the clergy. When you look at the re- 



170 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

sources of the country, and the extent of its population, recollecting that it 
is double our owa ; that its consumption of foreign articles, under a free 
commerce, would be proportion ably great ; that it yields a large revenue 
under the most abominable system, under which nearly three fourths of the 
population are unclad, and almost naked as from the hands of nature, be- 
cause absolutely deprived of the means of clothing themselves, what may 
not be the condition of this country under the operation of a different sys- 
tem, which would let industry develop its resources in all possible forms ? 
Such a neighbor can not but be a valuable acquisition in a commercial 
point of view. 

Gentlemen have denied the fact of the existence of the independence 
of Buenos Ayres at as early a date as I have assigned to it. The 
gentleman from South Carolina, who is well informed on the subject, has 
not, I think, exhibited his usual candor ou this part of it. When the gen- 
tleman talked of the upper provinces being out of the possession of the 
patriots as late as 1815, he ought to have gone back and told the House 
what was the actual state of the fact, with which I am sure the gentlemau 
is very well acquainted. In 1811, the government of Buenos Ayres had 
been in possession of every foot of the territory of the vice-royalty. The 
war has been raging from 1811 to 1814 in those interior provinces bor- 
dering on Lima, which have been as often as three times conquered by the 
enemy, and as often recovered, and from which the enemy is now finally 
expelled. Is this at all remarkable during the progress of such a revolu- 
tion ? During the different periods of our war of independence, the British 
had possession of different parts of our country ; as late as 1780, the 
whole of the southern States were in their possession ; and at an earlier 
date they had possession of the great northern capitals. There is, in re- 
gard to Buenos Ayres, a distinguishing trait which does not exist in the 
history of our Revolution. That is, that from 1810 to the present day, the 
capital of the republic of La Plata has been invariably in the possession of 
the patriot government. Gentlemen must admit that when, in 1814, she 
captured at Montevideo an army as large as Burgoyne's captured at Sara- 
toga, they were then in possession of independence. If they have been since 
1810 in the enjoyment of self-government, it is, indeed, not very material un- 
der what name or under what form. The fact of their independence is all 
that is necessary to be established. Iu reply to the argument of the gentle- 
mau from South Carolina, derived from his having been unable to find out the 
number of the provinces, this arose from the circumstance that, thirty-six 
years ago, the vice-royalty had been a captain-generalship ; that it ex- 
tended then only to Tucuman, while of late and at present the government 
extends to Desaguedera, in about the sixteenth degree of south latitude. 
There are other reasons why there is some confusion in the number of 
the provinces, as stated by different writers ; there is, in the first place, a 
territorial division of the country ; then a judicial ; and next a military 
division ; and the provinces have been stated at ten, thirteen, or twenty, 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMEEICA. 171 

according to the denominations used. This, however, with the gentleman 
from South Carolina, I regard as a fact of no sort of consequence. 

I will pass over the report lately made to the House by the Department 
of State, respecting the state of South America, with only one remark — 
that it appears to me to exhibit evidence of an adroit and experienced 
diplomatist, negotiating, or rather conferring on a subject with a young 
and inexperienced minister, from a young and inexperienced republic. 
From the manner in which this report was communicated, after a call for 
information so long made, and after a lapse of two months from the last 
date in the correspondence on the subject, I was mortified at hearing the 
report read. Why talk of the mode of recognition ? Why make objec- 
tions to the form of the commission ? If the minister has not a formal 
power, why not tell him to send back for one ? Why ask of him to 
enumerate the particular States whose independence he wished acknowl- 
edged ? Suppose the French minister had asked of Franklin what num- 
ber of States he represented ? Thirteen, if you please, Franklin would 
have replied. But Mr. Franklin, will you tell me if Pennsylvania, whose 
capital is in possession of the British, be one of them ? What would Dr. 
Franklin have said ? It would have comported better with the frankness 
of the American character, and of American diplomacy, if the secretary, 
avoiding cavils about the form of the commission, had said to the minister 
of Buenos Ayres, " at the present moment we do not intend to recognize 
you, or to receive or to send a minister to you." 

But among the charges which gentlemen have industriously brought 
together, the House has been told of factions prevailing in Buenos Ayres. 
Do not factions exist everywhere ? Are they not to be found in the best 
regulated and most firmly established governments ? Respecting the Car- 
reras, public information is abused ; they were supposed to have had im- 
proper views, designs hostile to the existing government, and it became 
necessary to deprive them of the power of doing mischief. And what is 
the fact respecting the alleged arrest of American citizens ? Buenos Ayres 
has been organizing an army to attack Chili. Carrera arrives at the river 
La Plata with some North Americans ; he had before defeated the revolu- 
tion in Chili, by withholding his co-operation ; the government of Buenos 
Ayres therefore said to him, We do not want your resources ; our own 
army is operating ; if you carry yours there, it may produce dissension, and 
cause the loss of liberty ; you shall not go. On his opposing this course, 
what was done which has called forth the sympathy of gentlemen ? He 
and those who attended him from this country were put in confinement, 
but only long enough to permit the operations of the Buenos Ayrean 
army to go on ; they were then permitted to go, or made their escape to 
Montevideo, and afterward where they pleased. With respect to the con- 
duct of that government, only recall the attention of gentlemen to the orders 
which have lately emanated from it, for the regulation of privateers, which 
has displayed a solicitude to guard against irregularity, and to respect the 



172 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

rights of neutrals, not inferior to that ever shown by any government, which 
has on any occasion attempted to regulate this licentious mode of warfare. 

The honorable gentleman from Georgia commenced his remarks the 
other day by an animadversion which he might well have spared, when he 
told us, that even the prayers of the chaplain of this House had been 
offered up in behalf of the patriots. And was it reprehensible, that an 
American chaplain, whose cheeks are furrowed by age, and his head as 
white as snow, who has a thousand times, during our own Revolution, im- 
plored the smiles of heaven on our exertions, should indulge in the pious 
and patriotic feelings flowing from his recollections of our own Revolu- 
tion ? Ought he to be subject to animadversion for so doing in a place 
where he can not be heard ? Ought he to be subject to animadversion for 
soliciting the favor of heaven on the same cause as that in which we fought 
the good fight, and conquered our independence ? I trust not. 

But the gentleman from Georgia, it appears, can see no parallel between 
our Revolution and that of the Spanish provinces. Their revolution, in its 
commencement, did not aim at complete independence, neither did ours. 
Such is the loyalty of the Creole character, that although groaning under 
three hundred years of tyranny and oppression, they have been unwilling 
to cast off their allegiance to that throne, which has been the throne of 
their ancestors. But, looking forward to a redress of wrongs, rather than 
a change of government, they gradually, and perhaps at first unintention- 
ally, entered into a revolution. I have it from those who have been actively 
engaged in our Revolution, from that venerable man (Chancellor Wythe), 
whose memory I shall ever cherish with filial regard, that, a very short 
time before our Declaration of Independence, it would have been impossible 
to have got a majority of Congress to declare it. Look at the language 
of our petitious of that day, carrying our loyalty to the foot of the 
throne, and avowing our anxiety to remain under the crown of our 
ancestors; independence was then not even remotely suggested as our 
object. 

The present state of facts, and not what has passed and gone in South 
America, must be consulted. At the present moment, the patriots of the 
South are fighting for liberty and independence ; for precisely what we 
fought. But their revolution, the gentleman told the House, was stained 
by scenes which had not occurred in ours. If so, it was because execrable 
outrages had been committed upon them by troops of the mother country, 
which were not upon us. Can it be believed, if the slaves had been let 
loose upon us in the South, as they have been let loose in Venezuela ; if 
quarter had been refused ; capitulations violated ; that General Washing 
ton, at the head of the armies of the United States, would not have re- 
sorted to retribution ? Retaliation is sometimes mercy, mercy to both 
parties. The only means by which the coward's soul that indulges in 
such enormities can be reached, is to show to him that they will be visited 
by severe but just retribution. There are traits iu the history of this rev- 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 173 

olution, which show what deep root liberty has taken in South America. 
I will state an instance. The only hope of a wealthy and reputable family 
was charged, at the head of a small force, with the care of the magazine 
of the army. He saw that it was impossible to defend it. " Go," said he 
to his companions in arms, " I alone am sufficient for its defense." The as- 
sailants approached ; he applied a match and blew up the magazine, with 
himself, scattering death and destruction on his enemy. There is another 
instance of tbe intrepidity of a female of tbe patriot party. A lady in New 
Granada had given information to the patriot forces, of plans and instruc- 
tions by which the capital might be invaded. She was put upon the rack 
to divulge her accomplices. She bore the torture with the greatest forti- 
tude, and died exclaiming, " You shall not hear it from my mouth ; I will 
die, and may those live who can free my country." 

But the House has been asked, and asked with a triumph worthy of a 
better cause, why recognize this republic ? Where is the use of it ? And 
is it possible that gentlemen can see no use in recognizing this republic ? 
For what did this republic fight ? To be admitted into the family of na- 
tions. Tell the nations of the world, says Pucyrredon, in his speech, that 
we already belong to their illustrious rank. What would be the powerful 
consequences of a recognition of their claim ? I ask my honorable friend 
before me (General Bloomfield), the highest sanction of whose judgment 
in favor of my proposition, I fondly anticipate, with what anxious solicitude, 
during our Revolution, he and his glorious compatriots turned their eyes to 
Europe and asked to be recognized — I ask him, the patriot of '76, how the 
heart rebounded with joy, on the information that France had recognized 
us ? The moral influence of such a recognition, on the patriot of the 
South, will be irresistible. He will derive assurance from it, of his not 
having fought in vain. In the constitution of our natures there is a point, to 
which adversity may pursue us, without perhaps any worse effect than that 
of exciting new energy to meet it. Having reached that point, if no gleam of 
comfort breaks through the gloom, we sink beneath the pressure, yielding 
reluctantly to our fate, and in hopeless despair lose all stimulus to exertion. 
And is there not reason to fear such a fate to the patriots of La Plata ? 
Already enjoying independence for eight years, their ministers are yet 
spurned from the courts of Europe, and rejected by the government of a 
sister republic. Contrast this conduct of ours with our conduct in other 
respects. No matter whence the minister comes, be it from a despotic 
power, we receive him ; and even now, the gentleman from Maryland, 
(Mr. Smith) would have us send a minister to Constantinople, to beg a 
passage through the Dardanelles to the Black Sea, that I suppose, we 
might get some hemp and bread-stuffs there, of which we ourselves produce 
none — he, who can see no advantage to the country from opening to its 
commerce the measureless resources of South America, would sent a min- 
ister to Constantinople for a little trade. Nay, I have seen a project in 
the newspapers, and I should not be surprised, after what we have already 



174 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

seen, at its being carried into effect, for sending a minister to the Porte. 
Yes, sir, from Constantinople, or from the Brazils ; from Turk or Chris- 
tian ; from black or white ; from the dey of Algiers or the bey of Tunis ; 
from the devil himself, if he wore a crown, we should receive a minister. 
We even paid the expenses of the minister of his sublime highness, the 
bey of Tunis, and thought ourselves highly honored by his visit. But let 
the minister come from a poor republic, like that of La Plata, and we turn 
our back on him. The brilliant costumes of the ministers of the royal 
governments are seen glistening in the circles of our drawing-rooms, and 
their splendid equipages rolling through the avenues of the metropolis ; 
but the unaccredited minister of the republic, if he visit our President or 
Secretary of State at all, must do it incognito, less the eye of Don Onis 
should be offended by so unseemly a sight ! I hope the gentleman from 
South Carolina, who is so capable of estimating the effect of moral causes, 
will see some use in recognizing the independence of La Plata. I appeal 
to the powerful effect of moral causes, manifested in the case of the French 
Revolution, when by their influence, that nation swept from about her 
the armies of the combined powers, by which she was environed, and rose 
up, the colossal power of Europe. There is an example of the effect of 
moral power. All the patriots ask, all they want at our hands, is, to be 
recognized as, what they have been for the last eight years, an independent 
power. 

But, it seems, we dare not do this, lest we tread on sacred ground ; and 
a honorable gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Smyth), who, when he has 
been a little longer in this House, will learn to respect its powers, calls it 
an usurpation on the part of this House. Has the gentleman weighed the 
terms which he employed ? If I mistake not, the gentleman, in the de- 
bate respecting the power to make internal improvements, called that too 
a usurpation on the part of this House. That power, too, however, he 
admitted to belong to the executive, and traced it to an imperial source, 
informing us that Caesar or somebody else, had exercised it. Sir, the gen- 
tleman has mistaken his position here; he is a military chieftain, and an 
admirable defender of executive authority, but he has yet to learn his horn- 
book as to the powers of this branch of the Legislature. Usurpation is ar- 
rogating to yourself authority which is vested elsewhere. But what is it 
that I propose, to which this term has been applied ? To appropriate mo- 
ney to pay a foreign minister his outfit and a year's salary. If that be a 
usurpation, we have been usurping power from the commencement of the 
government to the present time. The chairman of the committee of ways 
and means has never reported an appropriation bill without some instance 
of this usurpation. 

There are three modes under our Constitution, in which a nation may be 
recognized : by the executive receiving a minister ; secondly, by its sending 
one thither ; and, thirdly, this House unquestionably has the right to rec- 
ognize, in the exercise of the constitutional power of Congress to regulate 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 175 

foreign commerce. To receive a minister from a foreign power, is an ad- 
mission that the party sending him is sovereign and independent. So the 
sending a minister, as ministers are never sent but to sovereign powers, is a 
recognition of the independence of the power to whom the minister is sent. 
Now, the honorable gentleman from South Carolina would prefer the ex- 
pression of our opinion by a resolution, independent of the appropriation 
bill. If the gentleman will vote for it in that shape, I will readily gratify 
him ; all that I want to do is, to convey to the president au expression of 
our willingness, that the Government of Buenos Ayres should be recog- 
nized. Whether it shall be done by receiving a minister or sending one, 
is quite immaterial. It is urged, that there may be an impropriety in send- 
ing a minister, not being certain, after what has passed, that he will be re- 
ceived ; but that is one of the questions submitted to the discretion of the 
executive, which he will determine upon a view of all the circumstances; 
and who, of course, will previously have an understanding, that our minis- 
ter will be duly respected. If gentlemen desire to know what a minister 
from us is to do, I would have him congratulate the republic on the estab- 
lishment of free government and on their liberation from the ancient dy- 
nasty of Spain ; assure it of the interest we feel in its welfare, and of our 
readiness to concur in any arrangement which may be advantageous to our 
mutual interests. Have we not a minister at the Brazils, a nation lying 
alongside of the provinces of La Plata ; and, considering the number of 
slaves in it, by no means so formidable as the latter, and about equi-distant 
from us. In reference to the strength of the two powers, that of La Plata 
is much stronger, and the government of Brazil, trembling under the ap- 
prehension of the effect of the arms of La Plata, has gone further than any 
other power to recognize its independence, having entered into a military 
convention with the republic, by which each power guaranties the posses- 
sions of the other. And we have exchanged ministers with the Brazils. The 
one, however, is a kingdom, the other a republic ; and if any gentleman 
can assign any other better reason why a minister should be sent to one 
and not to the other of these powers, I shall be glad to hear it disclosed, 
for I have not been able myself to discover it. 

A gentleman yesterday told the House that the news from Buenos Ayres 
was unfavorable. Take it altogether, I believe it is not. But I put but 
little trust in such accounts. In our Revolution, incredulity of reports and 
newspaper stories, propagated by the enemy, was so strengthened by experi- 
ence, that at last, nothing was believed which was not attested by the sig- 
nature of " Charles Thomson." I am somewhat similarly situated ; I can 
not believe these reports ; I wish to see " Charles Thomson " before I give 
full credit to them. The vessel which has arrived at Baltimore — and by 
the way, by its valuable cargo of specie, hides, and tallow, gives evidence 
of a commerce worth pursuing — brought some rumor of a difference be- 
tween Artigas and the authorities of Buenos Ayres. With respect to the 
Banda Oriental, which is said to be occupied by Artigas, it constitutes but 



176 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

a very subordinate part of the territory of the United Provinces of La 
Plata ; and it can be no more objection to recognizing the nation, because 
that province is not included within its power, than it could have been to 
our recognition, because several States held out against the adoption of the 
Constitution. Before I attach any confidence to a letter not signed " Charles 
Thomson," I must know who the man is who writes it, what are bis sources 
of information, bis character for veracity, and so forth, and of all those par- 
ticulars, we are deprived of the information, in the case of the recent intel- 
ligence in the Baltimore papers, as extracted from private letters. 

But we are charged, on the present occasion, with treading on sacred 
ground. Let me suppose, what I do not believe to be the case, that the 
president bas expressed an opinion one way and we another. At so early 
a period of our government, because a particular individual fills the pres- 
idential chair — an individual whom I highly respect, more perhaps than 
some of those wbo would be considered his exclusive friends — is the odious 
doctrine to be preached here, tbat the chief magistrate can do no wrong? 
Is the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, are the principles 
of the Stuarts, to be revived in this free government ? Is an opinion to 
be suppressed and scouted, because it is in opposition to the opinion of the 
president ? Sir, as long as I have a seat on this floor, I shall not hesitate 
to exert the independence which belongs to the representative character; 
I shall not hesitate to express my opinions, coincident or not with those of 
the executive. But I can show that this cry has been raised on the pres- 
ent occasion without reason. Suppose a case — that the president had 
sent a minister to Buenos Ayres, and this House had been called on to 
make an appropriation for the payment of his salary. I ask of gentlemen, 
whether in that case they would not have voted an appropriation ? And 
has not the House a right to deliberate on the propriety of doing so, as 
well before, as after a minister is sent ? Will gentlemen please to point 
out the difference ? I contend that we are the true friends of the execu- 
tive ; and that the title does not belong to those who have taken it. We 
wish to extend his influence, and give him patronage ; to give him means, 
as he has now the power, to send another minister abroad. But, apart 
from this view of the question, as regards the executive power, this House 
has the incontestable right to recognize a foreign nation in the exercise of 
its power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. Suppose, for exam- 
ple, we pass an act to regulate trade between the United States and Buenos 
Ayres, the existence of the nation would be thereby recognized, as we could 
not regulate trade with a nation which does not exist. 

The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Smyth), the great champions of executive power, and the 
opponents of legislative authority, have contended that recognition would 
be cause of war. These gentlemen are reduced to this dilemma. If it is 
cause of war, the executive ought not to have the right to produce a war 
upon the country, without consulting Congress. If it is no cause of war, 



EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 177 

it is an act which there is no danger in performing. There is very little 
difference in principle, between vesting the executive with the power of 
declaring war, or with the power of necessarily leading the country into 
war, without consulting the authority to whom the power of making war 
is confided. But I deny that it is cause of war ; hut if it is, the sense of 
Congress ought certainly in some way or other to he taken on it, before 
that step is taken. I know that some of the most distinguished statesmen 
in the country have taken the view of this subject, that the power to rec- 
ognize the independence of any nation does not belong to the president ; that 
it is a power too momentous and consequential in its character, to belong 
to the executive. My own opinion, I confess, is different, believing the 
power to belong to either the president or Congress, and that it may, as 
most convenient, be exercised by either. If aid is to be given to afford 
which will be cause of war, however, Congress alone can give it. 

This House, then, has the power to act on the subject, even though the 
president has expressed an opinion, which he has not, further than, as ap- 
pears by the report of the Secretary of State, to decide that in January 
last, it would not be proper to recognize them. But the president stands 
pledged to recognize the republic, if on the return of the commissioners 
whom he has deputed, they shall make report favorable to the stability of 
the government. Suppose the chairman of the committee of foreign re- 
lations had reported a provision for an appropriation of that description 
which I propose, should we not all have voted for it ? And can any gen- 
tleman be so pliant, as, on the mere ground of an executive recommend- 
ation, to vote an appropriation without exercising his own faculties on the 
question ; and yet, when there is no such suggestion, will not even so far 
act for himself as to determine whether a republic is so independent that 
we may fairly take the step of recognition of it ? I hope that no such 
submission to the executive pleasure will characterize this House. 

One more remark, and I have done. One gentleman told the House 
that the population of the Spanish provinces is eighteen millions ; that we, 
with a population of two millions only, conquered our independence ; and 
that, if the southern provinces willed it, they must be free. This popula- 
tion, I have already stated, consists of distinct nations, having but little, 
if any, intercourse, the largest of which is Mexico ; and they are so sep- 
arated by immense distances, that it is impossible there should be any 
co-operation between them. Besides, they have difficulties to encounter 
which we had not. They have a noblesse ; they are divided into jealous 
castes, and a vast proportion of Indians ; to which adding the great in- 
fluence of the clergy, and it will be seen how widely different the circum- 
stances of Spanish America are, from those under which the Revolution in 
this country was brought to a successful termination. I have already 
shown how deep-rooted is the spirit of liberty in that country. I have 
instanced the little island of Margarita, against which the whole force of 
Spain has been in vain directed — containing a population of only sixteen 

12 



178 SPEECHES OF HENKT CLAY 

thousand souls, but where every man, woman and child, is a Grecian sol- 
dier, in defense of freedom. For many years the spirit of freedom has 
been struggling in Venezuela, and Spain has been unable to conquer it. 
Morillo, in an official dispatch, transmitted to the minister of marine of 
his own country, avows that Angostura, and all Guayana are in possession 
of the patriots, as well as all that country from which supplies can be 
drawn. According to the last accounts, Bolivar and other patriot com- 
manders, are concentrating their forces, and are within one day's march of 
Morillo ; and if they do not forsake the Fabian policy, which is the true 
course for them, the result will be, that even the weakest of the whole of 
the provinces of Spanish America, will establish their independence, and 
secure the enjoyment of those rights and blessings which rightfully belong 
to them. 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY, 1819. 

[When it is considered that the following speech has had more 
influence on the history and destiny of the United States, than 
any single event since the commencement of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, it should be read, for that cause alone, with profound 
interest and attention. And how has it had such influence ? 
Simply because it decided the question, whether Andrew Jack- 
son or Henry Clay should, from that moment, rise to a position 
of control over the counsels and policy of the nation, to run on 
for ages — perhaps forever. It was a speech which could never 
be forgiven by General Jackson, and which may be regarded as 
the moral cause of his relative ascendancy with the American 
people over Mr. Clay. Other subsequent events fell into line 
with this, such as the charge of bargain and corruption in the 
election of Mr. Adams, in 1825, and augmented the force of the 
current ; but here, in this speech, was the beginning of that 
eternal enmity which General Jackson carried in his bosom 
against Mr. Clay. But Mr. Clay could never calculate conse- 
quences to himself, when duty summoned him to a field of 
combat ; and the repeated disclaimers found in this speech of all 
intention or willingness on his part, to disparage General Jackson's 
military fame, or to impeach the motives of his conduct in these 
affairs, should be accepted as pledges, not that he loved Caesar 
less, but Rome more. Now that the passions of that hour have 
subsided, and all concerned have passed from the stage of life, 
the verdict of a calm review of that history may safely be trusted. 
There were political reasons at that time for sustaining General 
Jackson, both with the administration (Mr. Monroe's) and with 
Congress. Mr. Monroe, indeed, was mixed up in the affair, and 
had loaned his sanction to the general's course. Mr. Calhoun, 
however, of the Cabinet, is understood to have disapproved of 
the general's conduct, and to have taken strong ground, in 
Cabinet councils, against him, which fact was not known to 



180 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

General Jackson, until Mr. Van Buren discolsed it to him 
during the first term of his presidency, when Mr. Calhoun was 
vice-president, and a candidate for the presidency, Mr. Van 
Buren being his rival. Hence the beginning of the feud between 
General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, which grew into a hatred 
toward the latter, like that which existed in the general's mind 
toward Mr. Clay, originating in precisely the same cause ; and 
hence General Jackson's opposition to the claims of Mr. Calhoun 
to be his successor, and his preference of Mr. Van Buren. As 
soon as Mr. Van Buren had whispered this secret in General 
Jackson's ear, the general (then president) wrote to Mr. Calhoun 
(the vice-president) and demanded to know if the facts were so ; 
and unable to deny it, Mr. Calhoun took the ground, that no 
one had a right to question him about Cabinet secrets. Having 
his adversary thus cornered, General Jackson took Mr. Van 
Buren's account of the matter as true, and acted accordingly. 
It was true. Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun were now equally out 
of favor, and equally hated ; and Mr. Van Buren was henceforth 
in the ascendant for the succession ; and he did succeed : for 
General Jackson's popularity was such that he had only to name 
his successor, to secure his election. Mr. Clay could afford the 
contest, and bide his time ; for he had bottom to stand upon. 
But fiom that hour, Mr. Calhoun's political fortunes were rapidly 
on the wane. From that hour, Mr. Calhoun was always in a 
false position, and never got right. He was soon involved in 
Nullification, and General Jackson declared he would hang him ; 
which, perhaps, he would have done, if Mr. Clay and his friends 
had not come to his rescue by the Compromise of 1833. 

The resolutions of censure on General Jackson, supported by 
the following speech, and opposed by the administration, were 
voted down, by majorities ranging from thirty to forty-six, in a 
House of one hundred and seventy members. There were 
numerous speeches on both sides, from the ablest members of the 
House, and it was one of the most animated debates ever sus- 
tained in that body. Mr. Clay spoke twice, but the other speech 
was not preserved. 

Now that the parties to that question are all gone, and since 
the political reasons which controlled it have ceased to operate, 
Mr. Clay's speech can be read without bias. It will now be felt 
that every sentence, and every word of it, is true and weighty. 
Such will be the verdict of all coming time ; and the principles 
involved are immensely important. Nothing but a reluctance to 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 181 

censure the hero of New Orleans could have led to such a de- 
cision. No one can read this speech without having his sym- 
pathies powerfully excited, or without feeling that patriotism, 
soaring above all personal considerations, is the highest and no- 
blest virtue of the statesman. Such a vindication of humanity 
in war, and of those principles of public law which have softened 
its horrors, composes one of the brightest pages of American 
history.] 

Mr. Chairman : In rising- to address you, sir, on the very interesting 
subject which now engages the attention of Congress, I must be allowed to 
say, that all inferences drawn from the course which it will be my painful 
duty to take in this discussion, of unfriendliness either to the chief magis- 
trate of the country, or to the illustrious military chieftain whose opera- 
tions are under investigation, will be wholly unfounded. Toward that 
distinguished captain, who shed so much glory on our country, whose re- 
nown constitutes so great a portion of its moral property, I never had, I 
never can have, any other feelings than those of the most profound respect, 
and of the utmost kindness. With him my acquaintance is very limited, 
but, so far as it has extended, it has been of the most amicable kind. I 
know the motives which have been, and which will again be attributed to 
me, in regard to the other exalted personage alluded to. They have been 
and will be unfounded. I have no interest, other than that of seeing the 
concerns of my country well and happily administered. It is infinitely 
more gratifying to behold the prosperity of my country advancing by the 
wisdom of the measures adopted to promote it, than it would be to expose 
the errors which may be committed, if there be any, in the conduct of its 
affairs. Little as has been my experience in public life, it has been suf- 
ficient to teach me that the most humble station is surrounded by difficul- 
ties and embarrassments. Rather than throw obstructions in the way of 
the president, I would precede him, and pick out those, if I could, which 
might jostle him in his progress ; I would sympathize with him in his em- 
barrassments, and commiserate with him in his misfortunes. It is true 
that it has been my mortification to differ from that gentleman on several 
occasions. I may be again reluctantly compelled to differ from him ; but 
I will with the utmost sincerity, assure the committee, that I have formed 
no resolution, come under no engagements, and that I never will form any 
resolution, or contract any engagements, for systematic opposition to his 
administration, or to that of any other chief magistrate. 

I beg leave further to premise, that the subject under consideration, pre- 
sents two distinct aspects, susceptible, in my judgment, of the most clear 
and precise discrimination. The one I will call its foreign, the other its 
domestic aspect. In regard to the first, I will say, that I approve entirely 
of the conduct of our government, and that Spain has no cause of com- 



182 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

plaint. Having violated an important stipulation of the treaty of 1*795, 
that power has justly subjected herself to all the consequences which en- 
sued upon the entry into her dominions, and it belongs not to her to com- 
plain of those measures which resulted from her breach of contract ; still 
less has she a rio-ht to examine into the considerations connected with the 
domestic aspect of the subject. 

What are the propositions before the committee ? The first in order, is 
that reported by the military committee, which asserts the disapprobation 
of this House, of the proceedings in the trial and execution of Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister. The second, being the first contained in the proposed 
amendment, is the consequenae of that disapprobation, and contemplates 
the passage of a law to prohibit the execution hereafter of any captive, 
taken by the army, without the approbation of the president. The third 
proposition is, that this House disapproves of the forcible seizure of the 
Spanish posts, as contrary to orders, and in violation of the Constitution. 
The fourth proposition, as the result of the last, is, that a law shall pass to 
prohibit the march of the army of the United States, or any corps of it, 
into any foreign territory, without the previous authorization of Congress, 
except it be in fresh pursuit of a defeated enemy. The first and third are 
general propositions, declaring the sense of the House in regard to the 
evils pointed out ; and the second and fourth, propose the legislative rem- 
edies against the recurrence of those evils. 

It will be at once perceived, by this simple statement of the proposi- 
tions, that no other censure is proposed against General Jackson himself, 
than what is merely consequential. His name even does not appear in 
any of the resolutions. The Legislature of the country, in reviewing the 
state of the Union, and considering the events which have transpired since 
its last meeting, finds that particular occurrences, of the greatest moment, 
in many respects, have taken place near our southern border. I will add, 
that the House has not sought, by any officious interference with the do- 
ings of the executive, to gain jurisdiction over this matter. The president, 
in his message at the opening of the session, communicated the very in- 
formation on which it was proposed to act. I would ask for what pur- 
pose ? That we should fold our arms and yield a tacit acquiescence, even 
if we supposed that information disclosed alarming events, not merely as it 
regards the peace of the country, but in respect to its Constitution and 
character ? Impossible. In communicating these papers, and voluntarily 
calling the attention of Congress to the subject, the president must himself 
have intended, that we should apply any remedy that we might be able to 
devise. Having the subject thus regularly and fairly before us, and pro- 
posing merely to collect the sense of the House upon certain important 
transactions which it discloses, with the view to the passage of such laws 
as may be demanded by the public interest, I repeat, that there is no 
censure anywhere, except such as is strictly consequential upon our legis- 
lative action. The supposition of every new law, having for its object to 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 183 

prevent the recurrence of evil, is, that something has happened which 
ought not to have taken place, and no other than this indirect sort of cen- 
sure will flow from the resolutions before the committee. 

Having thus given my view of the nature and character of the proposi- 
tions under consideration, I am far from intimating that it is not my 
purpose to go into a full, a free, and a thorough investigation of the facts, 
and of the principles of law, public, municipal, and constitutional, involved 
in them. And, while I trust I shall speak with the decorum due to the 
distinguished officers of the government whose proceedings are to be ex- 
amined, I shall exercise the independence which belongs to me as a rep- 
resentative of the people, in freely and fully submitting my sentiments. 

In noticing the painful incidents of this war, it is impossible not to 
inquire into its origin. I fear that it will be found to be the famous treaty 
of Fort Jackson, concluded in August, 1814 ; and I must ask the indulg- 
ence of the chairman while I read certain parts of that treaty. 

" Whereas, an unprovoked, inhuman, sanguinary war, waged by the hostile 
Creeks against the United States, hath been repelled, prosecuted, and deter- 
mined, successfully on the part of the said States, in conformity with principles 
of national justice and honorable warfare : and, whereas, consideration is due to 
the rectitude of proceedings dictated by instructions relating to the re-establish- 
ing of peace : Be it remembered that, prior to the conquest of that part of the 
Creek nation hostile to the United States, numberless aggressions had been 
committed against the peace, the property, and the lives of citizens of the 
United States, and those of the Creek nation in amity with her, at the mouth 
of Duck River, Fort Mimms, and elsewhere, contrary to national faith and the 
regard due to an article of the treaty concluded at New York, in the year 1790, 
between the two nations ; that the United States, previous to the perpetration 
of such outrage, did, in order to insure future amity and concord between the 
Creek nation and the said States, in conformity with the stipulations of former 
treaties, fulfill, with punctuality and good faith, her engagements to the said 
nation; that more than two thirds of the whole number of chiefs and warriore 
of the Creek nation, disregarding the genuine spirit of existing treaties, suffered 
themselves to be instigated to violations of their national honor and the respect 
due to a part of their own nation faithful to the United States and the principles 
of humanity, by impostors, denominating themselves prophets, and by the du- 
plicity and misrepresentations of foreign emissaries, whose governments are at 
war, open or understood, with the United States. 

" Article 2. The United States will guaranty to the Creek nation the integrity 
of all their territory eastwardly and northwardly of the said line (described in 
the first article), to be run and described as mentioned in the first article. 

" Article 3. The United States demand that the Creek nation abandon all 
communication, and cease to hold intercourse with any British post, garrison, or 
town ; and that they shall not admit among them any agent or trader who shall 
not derive authority to hold commercial or other intercourse with them, by li- 
cense of the president or other authorized agent of the United States. 

" Article 4. The United States demand an acknowledgment of the right to 
establish military posts and trading-houses, and to open roads witliin the ter- 



184 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ritory guarantied to the Creek nation by the second article, and a right to the 
free navigation of all us waters. 

" Article 5. The United States demand that a surrender be immediately 
made, of all the persons and property taken from the citizens of the United 
States, the friendly part of the Creek nation, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and 
Choctaw nations, to the respective owners ; and the United States will cause to 
be immediately restored to the formerly hostile Creeks all the property taken 
from them since their submission, either by the United States, or by any Indian 
nations m amity with the United States, together with all the prisoners taken 
from them during the war. 

" Article 6. The United States demand the caption and surrender of all the 
prophets and instigators of the war, whether foreigners or natives, who have 
not submitted to the arms of the United States, and become parties to these 
articles of capitulation, if ever they shall be found within the territory guaran- 
tied to the Creek nation by the second article, 

"Article 7. The Creek nation being reduced to extreme want, and not, at 
present, having the means of subsistence, the United States, from motives of 
humanity, will continue to furnish gratuitously the necessaries of life, until the 
crops of corn can be considered competent to yield the nation a supply, and 
will establish trading-houses in the nation, at the discretion of the President of 
the United States, and at such places as he shall direct, to enable the nation, by 
industry and economy, to procure clothing." 

I have never perused this instrument until within a few days past, and 
I have read it with the deepest mortification and regret. A more dicta- 
torial spirit I have never seen displayed in any instrument. I would chal- 
lenge an examination of all the records of diplomacy, not excepting even 
those in the most haughty period of imperial Rome, when she was carry- 
ing her arms into the barbarian nations that surrounded her, and I do not 
believe a solitary instance can be found of such an inexorable spirit of 
domination pervading a compact purporting to be a treaty of peace. It 
consists of the most severe and humiliating demands — of the surrender of 
a large territory ; of the privilege of making roads through the remnant 
which was retained ; of the right of establishing trading-houses ; of the ob- 
ligation of delivering into our hands their prophets. And all this of a 
wretched people reduced to the last extremity of distress, whose miserable 
existence we have to preserve by a voluntary stipulation to furnish them 
with bread ! When did the all-conquering and desolating Rome ever fail 
to respect the altars and the gods of those whom she subjugated ? Let me 
not be told that these prophets were impostors who deceived the Indians. 
They were their prophets ; the Indians believed and venerated them, and it 
is not for us to dictate a religious belief to them. It does not belong to 
the holy character of the religion which we profess, to carry its precepts, by 
the force of the bayonet, into the bosoms of other people. Mild and gentle 
persuasion was the great instrument employed by the meek founder of our 
religion. We leave to the humane and benevolent efforts of the reverend 
professors of Christianity to convert from barbarism those unhappy nations 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 185 

yet immersed in its gloom. But, sir, spare them their prophets ! spare 
their delusions ! spare their prejudices and superstitions ! spare them even 
their religion, such as it is, from open and cruel violence. When, sir, was 
that treaty concluded ? On the very day, after the protocol was signed, 
of the first conference between the American and British commissioners, 
treating of peace, at Ghent. In the course of that negotiation, pretensions 
so enormous were set up by the other party that, when they were promul- 
gated in this country, there was one general burst of indignation through- 
out the continent. Faction itself was silenced, and the firm and unanimous 
determination of all parties was, to fight until the last man fell in the ditch 
rather than submit to such ignominious terms. 

What a contrast is exhibited between the cotemporaneous scenes of 
Ghent and of Fort Jackson ! what a powerful voucher would the British 
commissioners have been furnished with, if they could have got hold of 
that treaty! The United States demand, the United States demand, is 
repeated five or six times. And what did the preamble itself disclose ? 
That two thirds of the Creek nation had been hostile, and one third only 
friendly to us. Now I have heard (I can not vouch for the truth of the 
statement), that not one hostile chief signed the treaty. I have also heard 
that perhaps one or two of them did. If the treaty were really made by a 
minority of the nation, it was not obligatory upon the whole nation. It 
was void, considered in the light of a national compact. And, if void, the 
Indians were entitled to the benefit of the provision of the ninth article of 
the treaty of Ghent, by which we bound ourselves to make peace with any 
tribes with whom we might be at war on the ratification of the treaty and 
to restore to them their lands, as they held them in 1811. I do not know 
how the honorable Senate, that body for which I hold so high a respect, 
could have given their sanction to the treaty of Fort Jackson, so utterly 
irreconcilable as it is with those noble principles of generosity and mag- 
nanimity which I hope to see my country always exhibit, and particularly 
toward the miserable remnant of the aborigines. It would have comported 
better with those principles to have imitated the benevolent policy of the 
founder of Pennsylvania, and to have given to the Creeks conquered as they 
were, even if they had made an unjust war upon us, the trilling considera- 
tion, to them an adequate compensation, which he paid for their lands. 
That treaty, I fear, has been the main cause of the recent war. And, if it 
has been, it only adds another melancholy proof to those with which his- 
tory already abounds, that hard and unconscionable terms, extorted by the 
power of the sword and the right of conquest, serve but to whet and stim- 
ulate revenge, and to give old hostilities, smothered, not extinguished, by 
the pretended peace, greater exasperation and more ferocity. A truce, 
thus patched up with an unfortuuate people, without the means of exist- 
ence, without bread, is no real peace. The instant there is the slightest 
prospect of relief from such harsh and severe conditions, the conquered 
party will fly to arms, and spend the last drop of blood rather than live in 



186 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

such degraded bondage. Even if you again reduce him to submission, the 
expenses incurred by this second war, to say nothing of the human lives 
that are sacrificed, will be greater than what it would have cost you to 
grant him liberal conditions in the first instance. This treaty, I repeat, 
was, I apprehend, the cause of the war. It led to the excesses on our 
southern borders which began it. Who first commenced them, it is per- 
haps difficult to ascertain. There was, however, a paper on this subject, 
communicated at the last session by the president, that told, in language 
pathetic and feeling, an artless tale ; a paper that carried such internal 
evidence at least of the belief of the authors of it that they were 
writing the truth, that I will ask the favor of the committee to allow me 
to read it. 

" To the Commanding Officer at Fort Hawkins : 

" Dear Sie ; 

" Since the last war, after you sent word that we must quit the war, we, 
the red people, have come over on this side. The white people have carried all 
the red people's cattle off. After the war, I sent to all my people to let the white 
people alone, and stay on this side of the river ; and they did so ; but the white 
people still continue so carry off their cattle. Bernard's son was here, and I in- 
quired of him what was to be done ; and he said we must go to the head man 
of the white people and complain. I did so, and there was no head white man, 
and there was no law in this case. The whites first began, and there is no tiling 
said about that ; but great complaint about what the Indians do. This is now 
three years since the white people killed three Indians ; since that time they 
have killed three oilier Indians, and taken their horses, and what they had ; and 
this summer they killed three more ; and very likely they killed one more. We 
sent word to the white people that these murders were done, and the answer 
was, that they were people who were outlaws, and we ought to go and kill 
them. The white people killed our people first ; the Indians then took satisfac- 
tion. There are yet three men that the red people have never taken satisfaction 
for. You have wrote that there were houses burned ; but we know of no such 
thing being done ; the truth, in such cases, ought to be told, but this appears 
otherwise. On that side of the river, the white people have killed five Indians, 
but there is nothing said about that ; and all that the Indians have done is 
brought up. All the mischief the white people have done, ought to be told to their 
head man. When there is any thing done, you write to us ; but never write to 
your head man what the white people do. When the red people send talks or 
write, they always send the truth. You have sent to us for your horses, and 
we sent all that we could find ; but there was some dead. It appears that all 
the mischief is laid on this town ; but all the mischief that has been done by 
this town, is two horses ; one of them is dead, and the other was sent back. 
The cattle that we are accused of taking, were cattle that the white people took 
from us. Our young men went and brought them back, with the same marks 
and brands. There were some of our young men out hunting, and they were 
killed ; others went to take satisfaction, and the kettle of one of the men that was 
killed was found in the house w T here the woman and two children were killed ; 
and they supposed it had been her husband who had killed the Indians, and took 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 187 

their satisfaction there. We are accused of killing the Americans, and so on ; 
but since the word was sent to us that peace was made, we stay steady at home, 
and meddle ivith no person. You have sent to us respecting the black people on 
the Suwany river ; we having nothing to do with them. They were put there 
by the English, and to them you ought to apply for any thing about them. We 
do not wish our country desolated by an army passing through it, for the con- 
cern of other people. The Indians have slaves there also ; a great many of 
them. When we have an opportunity, we shall apply to the English for them ; 
but we can not get them now. 

" This is what we have to say at present. 

" Sir, I conclude by subscribing myself, 

" Your humble servant, etc. 

" September, the 11th day, 1817. 

" N. B. There are ten towns have read this letter, and this is the answer. 

"A true copy of the original. Wm. Bell, Aid-de-camp." 

I should be very unwilling to assert, in regard to this war, that the fault 
was on our side ; I fear it was. I have heard that a very respectable 
gentleman, now no more, who once rilled the executive chair of Georgia, 
and who, having been agent of Indian affairs in that quarter, had the best 
opportunity of judging of the origin of this war, deliberately pronounced it 
as his opinion, that the Indians were not in fault. I am far from attribut- 
ing to General Jackson any other than the very slight degree of blame that 
attaches to him as the negotiator of the treaty of Fort Jackson, and will be 
shared by those who subsequently ratified and sanctioned that treaty. 
But if there be even a doubt as to the origin of the war, whether we were 
censurable or the Indians, that doubt will serve to increase our regret at 
any distressing incidents which may have occurred, and to mitigate, in 
some degree, the crimes which Ave impute to the other side. I know that 
when General Jackson was summoned to the field, it was too late to hesi- 
tate ; the fatal blow had been struck, in the destruction of Fowl-town, 
and the dreadful massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his detachment ; 
and the only duty which remained to him, was to terminate this unhappy 
contest. 

The first circumstance which, in the course of his performing that duty, 
fixed our attention, has filled me with reo-ret. It was the execution of the 
Indian chiefs. How, I ask, did they come into our possession ? Was it 
in the course of fair, and open, and honorable war ? ftTo ; but by means 
of deception — by hoisting foreign colors on the staflf from which the stars 
and stripes should alone have floated. Thus insnared, the Indians were 
taken on shore ; and without ceremony, and without delay, were hung. 
Hang an Indian ! We, sir, who are civilized, and can comprehend and 
feel the effect of moral causes and considerations, attach ignominy to that 
mode of death. And the gallant, and refined, and high-minded man, 
seeks by all possible means to avoid it. But what cares an Iudian whether 
you hang or shoot him \ The moment he is captured, he is considered by 



188 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

his tribe as disgraced, if not lost. They, too, are indifferent about the 
manner in which he is dispatched. But I regard the occurrence with 
grief, for other and higher considerations. It was the first instance that I 
know of, in the annals of our country, in which retaliation, by executing 
Indian captives, has ever been deliberately practiced. There may have 
been exceptions, but if there were, they met with cotemporaneous con- 
demnation, and have been reprehended by the just pen of impartial his- 
tory. The gentleman from Massachusetts may tell me, if he chooses, 
what he pleases about the tomahawk and scalping-knife ; about Indian 
enormities, and foreign miscreants and incendiaries. I, too, hate them ; 
from my very soul I abominate them. But I love my country, and its 
Constitution ; I love liberty and safety, and fear military despotism more, 
even, than I hate the monsters. The gentleman, in the course of his re- 
marks, alluded to the State from which I have the honor to come. Little, 
sir, does he know of the high and magnanimous sentiments of the people 
of that State, if he supposes they will approve of the transaction to which 
he refeirel. Brave and generous, humanity and clemency toward a fallen 
foe constitute one of their noblest characteristics. Amid all the struggles 
for that fair land, between the natives and the present inhabitants, I defy 
the gentleman to point out one instance, in which aKentuckian had stained 
his hand by — nothing but my high sense of the distinguished services and 
exalted merits of General Jackson, prevents my using a different term — 
the execution of an unarmed and prostrate captive. Yes, there is one 
solitary exception, in which a man, enraged at beholding an Indian pris- 
oner who had been celebrated for his enormities, and who had destroyed 
some of his kindred, plunged his sword into his bosom. The wicked deed 
was considered as an abominable outrage when it occurred, and the name 
of the man has been handed down to the execration of posterity. I deny 
your right thus to retaliate on the aboriginal proprietors of the country; 
and unless I am utterly deceived, it may be shown that it does not exist. 
But before I attempt this, allow me to make the gentleman from Massachu- 
setts a little better acquainted with those people, to whose feelings and 
sympathies he has appealed through their representative. During the late 
war with Great Britain, Colonel Campbell, under the command of my 
honorable fiieud from Ohio (General Harrison), was placed at the head of 
a detachment, consisting chiefly, I believe, of Kentucky volunteers, in order 
to destroy the Mississinaway towns. They proceeded and performed the 
duty, and took some prisoners. And here is the evidence of the manner 
in which they treated them. 

" But the character of this gallant detachment, exhibiting, as it did, persever- 
ance, fortitude, and bravery, would, however, be incomplete, if in the midst of 
victory, they had forgotten the feelings of humanity. It is with the sincerest 
pleasure that the general has heard, that the most punctual obedience was paid 
to his orders, in not only saving all the women and children, but in sparing all 
the warriors who ceased to ?-esist ; and that even when vigorously attacked by 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 



m 



the enemy, the claims of mercy prevailed over every sense of their own danger, 
and this heroic band respected the lives of their prisoners. Let an account of 
murdered innocence be opened in the records of heaven, against our enemies 
alone. The American soldier will follow the example of his government, and 
the sword of the one will not be against the fallen and the helpless, nor the 
gold of the other be paid for scalps of a massacred enemy." 

I hope, sir, the honorable gentleman will now be able better to appreciate 
the character and conduct of my gallant countrymen, than he appears 
hitherto to have done. 

But, sir, I have said that you have no right to practice, under color of 
retaliation, enormities on the Indians. I will advance in support of this 
position, as applicable to the origin of all law, the principle, that whatever 
has been the custom, from the commencement of a subject, whatever has 
been the uniform usage, coeval and coexistent with the subject to which it 
relates, becomes its fixed law. Such is the foundation of all common 
law; and such, I believe, is the principal foundation of all public or inter- 
national law. If, then, it can be shown that from the first settlement of 
the colonies, on this part of the American continent, to the present time, 
we have constantly abstained from retaliating upon the Indians the excesses 
practiced by them toward us, we are morally bound by this invariable 
usage, and can not lawfully change it without the most cogent reasons. 
So far as my knowledge extends, from the first settlement at Plymouth or 
at Jamestown, it has not been our practice to destroy Indian captives, 
combatants or non combatants. I know of but one deviation from the 
code which regulates the warfare between civilized communities, and that 
was the destruction of Indian towns, which was suppoeed to be authorized 
upon the ground that we could not bring the war to a termination but by 
destroying the means which nourished it. With this single exception, the 
other principles of the laws of civilized nations are extended to them, and 
are thus made law in regard to them. 

When did this humane custom, by which, in consideration of their ig- 
norance, and our enlightened condition, the rigors of war were mitigated, 
begin ? At a time when we were weak, and they comparatively strong; 
when they were the lords of the soil, and we were seeking, from the vices, 
from the corruptions, from the religious intolerance, and from the oppres- 
sions of Europe, to gain an asylum among them. And when it is proposed 
to change this custom, to substitute for it the bloody maxims of barbarous 
ages, and to interpolate the Indian public law with revolting cruelties? 
At a time when the situation of the two parties is totally changed — when 
we are powerful and they are weak — at a time when, to use a figure drawn 
from their own sublime eloquence, the poor children of the forest have 
been driven by the great wave which has flowed in from the Atlantic 
ocean almost to the base of the Rocky Mountains, and, overwhelming them 
in its terrible progress, has left no other remains of hundreds of tribes, 
now extinct, than those which indicate the remote existence of their former 



190 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

companion, the mammoth of the new world ! Yes, sir, it is at this aus- 
picious period of our country, when we hold a proud and lofty station 
among the first nations of the world, that we are called upon to sanction 
a departure from the established laws and usages which have regulated our 
Indian hostilities. And does tbe honorable gentleman from Massachusetts 
expect, in this august body, this enlightened assembly of Christians and 
Americans, by glowing appeals to our passions, to make us forget our 
principles, our religion, our clemency, and our humanity ? Why is it that 
we have not practiced toward the Indian tribes the right of retaliation, 
now for the first time asserted in regard to them ? It is because it is a 
principle proclaimed by reason and enforced by every respectable writer 
on the law of nations, that retaliation is only justifiable as calculated to 
produce effect in the war. Vengeance is a new motive for resorting to it. 
If retaliation will produce no effect on the enemy, we are bound to abstain 
from it by every consideration of humanity and of justice. Will it, then, 
produce effect on the Indian tribes ? No ; they care not about the execu- 
tion of those of their warriors who are taken captive. They are considered 
as disgraced by the very circumstance of their captivity, and it is often 
mercy to the unhappy captive to deprive him of his existence. The poet 
evinced a profound knowledge of the Indian character, when he put into 
the mouth of a son of a distinguished chief, about to be led to the stake 
and tortured by his victorious enemy, the words : 

" Begin, ye tormentors ! your threats are in vain : 
The son of Alknomook will never complain." 

Retaliation of Indian excesses, not producing then any effect in prevent- 
ing their repetition, is condemned by both reason and the principles upon 
which alone, in any case, it can be justified. On this branch of the sub- 
ject much more might be said, but as I shall possibly again allude to it, I 
will pass from it for the present, to another topic. 

It is not necessary, for the purpose of my argument in regard to the 
trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, to insist on the innocency 
of either of them. I will yield for the sake of that argument, without 
inquiry, that both of them were guilty ; that both had instigated the war ; 
and that one of them had led the enemy to battle. It is possible, indeed, 
that a critical examination of the evidence would show, particularly in the 
case of Arbuthnot, that the whole amount of his crime consisted in his 
trading, without the limits of the United States, with the Seminole Indians, 
in the accustomed commodities which form the subject of Indian trade, 
and that he sought to ingratiate himself with his customers by espousing 
their interests, in regard to the provision of the treaty of Ghent, which 
he may have honestly believed entitled them to the restoration of their 
lands. And if, indeed, the treaty of Fort Jackson, for the reasons already 
assigned, were not binding upon the Creeks, there would be but too much 
cause to lament his unhappy if not unjust fate. The first impression made 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 191 

on the examination of the proceedings in the trial and execution of those 
two men is, that on the part of Ambrister there was the most guilt, but, 
at the same time, the most irregularity. Conceding the point of guilt of 
both, with the qualification which I have stated, I will proceed to inquire, 
first, if their execution can be justified upon the principles assumed by General 
Jackson himself. If they do not afford a justification, I will next inquire, if 
there be any other principles authorizing their execution ; and I will in the 
third place make some other observations upon the mode of proceeding. 

The principle assumed by General Jackson, which may be found in his 
general orders commanding the execution of these men, is, " that it is an 
established principle of the law of nations, that any individual of a nation 
making war against the citizens of any other nation, they being at peace, 
forfeits his allegiance, and becomes an outlaw, and a pirate." Whatever 
may be the character of individuals waging private war, the principle as- 
sumed is totally erroneous when applied to such individuals associated with 
a power, whether Indian or civilized, capable of maintaining the relations 
of peace and war. Suppose, however, the principle were true, as asserted, 
what disposition should he have made of these men ? What jurisdic- 
tion, and how acquired, has the military over pirates, robbers, and outlaws ? 
If they were in the character imputed, they were alone amenable, and 
should have been turned over to, the civil authority. But the principle, 
I repeat, is totally incorrect, when applied to men in their situation. A 
foreigner connecting himself with a belligerent, becomes an enemy of the 
party to whom that belligerent is opposed, subject to whatever he may be 
subject, entitled to whatever he is entitled. Arbuthnot and Ambrister, by 
associating themselves, became identified with the Indians ; they became 
our enemies, and we had a right to treat them as we could lawfully treat 
the Indians. These positions are so obviously correct, that I shall consider 
it an abuse of the patience of the committee to consume time in their 
proof. They are supported by the practice of all nations, and of our own. 
Every page of history, in all times, and the recollection of every member, 
furnish evidence of their truth. Let us look for a moment into some of 
the consequences of this principle, if it were to go to Europe, sanctioned 
by the approbation, express or implied, of this House. We have now in 
our armies probably the subjects of almost every European power. Some 
of the nations of Europe maintain the doctrine of perpetual allegiance. 
Suppose Britain and America in peace, and America and France at war. 
The former subjects of England, naturalized and unnaturalized, are cap- 
tured by the navy or army of France. What is their condition ? Ac- 
cording to the principle of General Jackson, they would be outlaws and 
pirates, and liable to immediate execution. Are gentlemen prepared to 
return to their respective districts with this doctrine in their mouths, and 
to say to their Irish, English, Scotch, and other foreign constituents, that 
they are liable, on the contingency supposed, to be treated as outlaws and 
pirates ? 



192 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Is there any other principle which justifies the proceedings? On this 
subject, if I admire the wonderful ingenuity with which gentlemen seek a 
colorable pretext for those executions, I am at the same time shocked at 
some of the principles advanced. What said the honorable gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Holmes), in a cold address to the committee ? 
Why, that these executions were only the wrong mode of doing a right 
thing. A wrong mode of doing the right thing I In what code of public 
law ; in what system of ethics ; nay, in what respectable novel ; where, if 
the gentleman were to take the range of the whole literature of the world, 
will lie find any sanction for a principle so monstrous ? I will illustrate its 
enormity by a single case. Suppose a man, being guilty of robbery, is 
tried, condemned, and executed, for murder, upon an indictment for that 
robbery merely. The judge is arraigned for having executed, contrary to 
law, a human being, innocent at heart of the crime for which he was sen- 
tenced. The judge has nothing to do, to insure his own acquittal, but to 
urge the gentleman's plea, that he had done a right thing in a wrong 
way ! 

The principles which attached to the cases of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 
constituting them merely participes in the war, supposing them to have 
been combatants, which the former was not, he having been taken in a 
Spanish fortress, without arms in his hands, all that we could possibly have 
a right to do, was to apply to them the rules which we had a right to en- 
force against the Indians. Their English character was only merged in 
their Indian character. Now, if the law regulating Indian hostilities be 
established by long and immemorial usage, that we have no moral right 
to retaliate upon them, we consequently had no right to retaliate upon 
Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Even if it were admitted that, in regard to 
future wars, and to other foreigners, their execution may have a good 
effect, it would not thence follow that you had a right to execute them. 
It is not always just to do what may be advantageous. And retaliation, 
during a war, must have relation to the events of that war, and must, to 
be just, have an operation on that war, and upon the individuals only who 
compose the belligerent party. It becomes gentlemen, then, on the other 
side, to show, by some known, certain, and recognized rule of public or 
municipal law, that the execution of these men was justified. Where is 
it ? I should be glad to see it. We are told in a paper emanating from 
the Department of State, recently laid before this House, distinguished for 
the fervor of its eloquence, and of wdiich the honorable gentleman from 
Massachusetts has supplied us in part with a second edition, in one re- 
spect agreeing with the prototype — that they both ought to be inscribed to 
the American public — we are justly told in that paper, that this is the first 
instance of the execution of persons for the crime of instigating Indians to 
war. Sir, there are two topics which, in Europe, are constantly employed 
by the friends and minions of legitimacy against our country. The one is 
an inordinate spirit of aggrandizement — of coveting other people's goods ; 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 193 

the other is the treatment which we extend to the Indians. Against both 
these charges, the public servants who conducted at Ghent the negotiations 
with the British commissioners, endeavored to vindicate our country, and I 
hope with some degree of success. What will be the condition of future 
American negotiators when pressed upon this head, I know not, after the 
unhappy executions on our southern border. The gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts seemed yesterday to read, with a sort of triumph, the names of 
the commissioners employed in the negotiation at Ghent. Will he excuse 
me for saying, that I thought he pronounced, even with more complacency 
and with a more gracious smile, the first name in the commission, than he 
emphasized that of the humble individual who addresses you 1 

[Mr. Holmes desired to explain.] 

There is no occasion for explanation ; I am perfectly satisfied. 

[Mr. Holmes, however, proceeded to say that his intention was, in pronoun- 
cing the gentleman's name, to add, to the respect due to the negotiator, that 
which was due to the Speaker of this House.] 

To return to the case of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Will the principle 
of these men having been the instigators of the war, justify their execution ? 
It is a new one ; there are no landmarks to guide us in its adoption, or to 
prescribe limits in its application. If William.\Pitt had been taken by the 
French army, during the late European war, could France have justifiably 
executed him on the ground of his having notoriously instigated the con- 
tinental powers to war against France ? Would France, if she had stained 
her character by executing him, have obtained the sanction of the world 
to the act, by appeals to the passions and prejudices, by pointing to the 
cities sacked, the countries laid waste, the human lives sacrificed in the 
wars which he had kindled, and by exclaiming to the unfortunate captive, 
You, miscreant, monster, have occasioned all these scenes of devastation 
and blood ? What has been the conduct even of England toward the 
greatest instigator of all the wars of the present age ? The condemnation 
of that illustrious man to the rock of St. Helena, is a great blot on the En- 
glish name. And I repeat what I have before said, that if Chatham, or Fox, 
or even William Pitt himself, had been prime minister in England, Bona- 
parte had never been so condemned. On that transaction history will one 
day pass its severe but just censure. Yes, although Napoleon had desolat- 
ed half Europe ; although there was scarcely a power, however humble, 
that escaped the mighty grasp of his ambition ; although in the course of 
his splendid career, he is charged with having committed the greatest atro- 
cities, disgraceful to himself and to human nature, yet even his life has 
been spared. The allies would not, England would not, execute him upon 
the ground of his being an instigator of wars. 

The mode of the trial and sentencing of these men was equally objeet- 

13 



194 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ionable with the principles on which it has been attempted to prove a for- 
feiture of their lives. I know the laudable spirit which prompted the in- 
genuity displayed in finding out a justification for these proceedings. I 
wish most sincerely that I could reconcile them to my conscience. It has 
been attempted to vindicate the general upon grounds which I am persuad- 
ed he would himself disown. It has been asserted, that he was guilty of a 
mistake in calling upon the court to try them, and that he might at once have 
ordered their execution, without that formality. I deny that there was any 
such absolute right in the commander of any portion of our army. The 
right of retaliation is an attribute of sovereignty. It is comprehended in 
the war-making power that Congress possesses. It belongs to this body 
not only to declare war, but to raise armies, and to make rules and regula- 
tions for their government. It is in vain for gentlemen to look to the law 
of nations for instances in which retaliation is lawful. The laws of nations 
merely lay down the principle or rule ; it belongs to the government to 
constitute the tribunal for applying that principle or rule. There is, for 
example, no instance in which the death of a captive is more certainly de- 
clared by the law of nations to be justifiable, than in the case of spies. 
Congress has accordingly provided, in the rules and articles of war, a tri- 
bunal for the trial of spies, and consequently for the application of the prin- 
ciple of the national law. The Legislature has not left the power over spies 
undefined, to the mere discretion of the commander-in-chief, or of any 
subaltern officer in the army. For, if the doctrines now contended for 
were true, they would apply to the commander of any corps, however 
small, acting as a detachment. Suppose Congress had not legislated in the 
case of spies, what would have been their condition ? It would have been 
a casus omissus, and although the public law pronounced their doom, it 
could not be executed, because Congress had assigned no tribunal for en- 
forcing that public law. No man can be executed in this free country 
without two things being shown — first, that the law condemns him to death ; 
and, secondly, that his death is pronounced by that tribunal which is au- 
thorized by the law to try him. These principles will reach every man's 
case, native or foreign, citizen or alien. The instant quarters are granted 
to a prisoner, the majesty of the law surrounds and sustains him, and he 
can not be lawfully punished with death without the concurrence of the 
two circumstances just insisted upon. I deny that any commander-in-chief, 
in this country, has this absolute power of life and death, at his sole discre- 
tion. It is contrary to the genius of all our laws and institutions. To con- 
centrate in the person of one individual the powers to make the rule, to 
judge and to execute the rule, or to judge and execute the rule only, is ut- 
terly irreconcilable with every principle of free government, and is the 
very definition of tyranny itself; and I trust that this House will never give 
even a tacit assent to such a principle. Suppose the commander had made 
even reprisals on property, would that property have belonged to the na- 
tion, or could he have disposed of it as he pleased ? Had he more power, 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 195 

will gentlemen tell me, over the lives of human beings than over property ? 
The assertion of such a power to the commander-in-chief is contrary to 
the practice of the government. 

By an act of Congress which passed in 1*799, vesting the power of re- 
taliation in certain cases in the president of the United States — an act 
which passed during the quasi war with France — the president is autho- 
rized to retaliate upon any of the citizens of the French republic, the enor- 
mities which may be practiced, in certain cases, upon our citizens. Under 
what administration was this act passed ? It was under that which has 
been justly charged with stretching the Constitution to enlarge the execu- 
tive powers. Even during the mad career of Mr. Adams, when every 
means was resorted to for the purpose of iufusing vigor into the executive 
arm, no one thought of claiming for him the inherent right of retaliation. 
I will not trouble the House with reading another law, which passed thir- 
teen or fourteen years after, during the late war with Great Britain, under 
the administration of that great constitutional president, the father of the 
instrument itself, by which Mr. Madison was empowered to retaliate on 
the British in certain instances. It is not only contrary to the genius of 
our institutions, and to the uniform practice of the government, but it is 
contrary to the obvious principles on which the general himself proceeded ; 
for, in forming the court, he evidently intended to proceed under the rules 
and articles of war. The extreme number which they provide for is thir- 
teen, precisely that which is detailed in the present instance. The court 
proceeded not by a bare plurality, but by a majority of two thirds. In 
the general orders issued from the adjutant-general's office, at head-quar- 
ters, it is described as a court-martial. The prisoners are said, in those 
orders, to have been tried, " on the following charges and specifications." 
The court understood itself to be acting as a court-martial. It was so 
organized, it so proceeded, having a judge advocate, hearing witnesses, 
and the written defense of the miserable trembling prisoners, who seemed 
to have a presentiment of their doom. And the court was finally dissolved. 
The whole proceeding manifestly shows, that all parties considered it as a 
court-martial, convened and acting under the rules and articles of war. 
In his letter to the Secretary of War, noticing the transaction, the general 
says, " these individuals were tried under my orders, legally convicted as 
exciters of this savage and negro war, legally condemned, and most justly 
punished for their iniquities." The Lord deliver us from such legal conviction 
and such legal condemnation ! The general himself considered the laws of 
his country to have justified his proceedings. It is in vain then to talk of a 
power in him beyond the law, and above the law, when he himself does not 
assert it. Let it be conceded that he was clothed with absolute authority 
over the lives of those individuals, and that, upon his own fiat, without trial, 
without defense, he might have commanded their execution. Now, if an 
absolute sovereign, in any particular respect, promulgates a rule, which he 
pledges himself to observe, if he subsequently deviates from that rule, he 



196 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

subjects himself to the imputation of odious tyranny. If General Jackson 
had the power, without a court, to condemn these men, he had also the 
power to appoint a tribunal. He did appoint a tribunal, and became, 
therefore, morally bound to observe and execute the sentence of that tri- 
bunal. In regard to Ambiister, it is with grief and pain I am compelled to 
say, that he was executed in defiance of all law ; in defiance of the law to 
which General Jackson had voluntarily, if you please, submitted himself, 
and given, by his appeal to the court, his implied pledge to observe. I 
know but little of military law, and what has happened, has certainly not 
created in me a taste for acquiring a knowledge of more ; but I believe 
there is no example on record, where the sentence of the court has been 
erase I, and a sentence not pronounced by it carried into execution. It has 
been suggested that the court had pronounced two sentences, and that the 
general had a right to select either. Two sentences ! Two verdicts ! It 
was not so. The first being revoked, was as though it had never been 
pronounced. And there remained only one sentence, which was put aside 
upon the sole authority of the commander, and the execution of the 
prisoner ordered. He either had or had not a right to decide upon the 
fate of that man, with the intervention of a court. If he had the right, 
he waived it, and having violated the sentence of the court, there was 
brought upon the judicial administration of the army a reproach, which 
must occasion the most lasting regret. 

However guilty these men were, they should not have been condemned 
or executed without the authority of the law. I will not dwell, at this 
time, on the effect of these precedents in foreign countries ; but I shall not 
pass unnoticed their dangerous influence in our own country. Bad exam- 
ples are generally set in the cases of bad men, and often remote from the 
central government. It was in the provinces that were laid the abuses and 
the seeds of the ambitious projects which overturned the liberties of Rome. 
I beseech the committee not to be so captivated with the charms of elo- 
quence, and the appeals made to our passions and our sympathies, as to 
forget the fundamental principles of our government. The influence of a 
bad example will often be felt, when its authors and all the circumstances 
connected with it are no longer remembered. I know of but one anal- 
ogous instance of the execution of a prisoner, and that has brought more 
odium than almost any other incident on the unhappy Emperor of France. 
I allude to the instance of the execution of the unfortunate member of the 
Bourbon house. He sought an asylum in the territories of Baden. Bo- 
naparte dispatched a corps of gen-d'armes to the place of his retreat, seized 
him, and brought him to the dungeons of Vincennes. He was there tried 
by a court-martial, condemned, and shot. There, as here, was a violation 
of neutral territory ; there, the neutral ground was not stained with the 
blood of him whom it should have protected. And there is another most 
unfortunate difference for the American people. The Duke d'Enghein was 
executed according to his sentence. It is said by the defenders of Napo- 



ON THE SEMINOLE. WAR. 197 

leon, that the duke had been machinating not merely to overturn the 
French government, but against the life of its cbief. If that were true, 
he might, if taken in France, have been legally executed. Such was the 
odium brought upon the instruments of this transaction, that those persons 
who have been even suspected of participation in it, have sought to vin- 
dicate themselves from what they appeared to have considered as an asper- 
sion, before foreign courts. In conclusion of this part of my subject, I 
most cheerfully and entirely acquit General Jackson of any intention to 
violate the laws of the country, or the obligations of humanity. I am per- 
suaded, from all that I have heard, that he considered himself as equally 
respecting and observing both. With respect to the purity of his intentions, 
therefore, I am disposed to allow it in the most extensive degree. Of his 
acts, it is my duty to speak, with the freedom which belongs to my station. 
And I shall now proceed to consider some of them, of the most moment- 
ous character, as it regards the distribution of, the powers of government. 

Of all the powers conferred by the Constitution of the United States, 
not one is more expressly and exclusively granted, than that which gives 
to Congress the power to declare war. The immortal Convention who 
formed that instrument, had abundant reason, drawn from every page of 
history, for confiding this tremendous power to the deliberate judgment of 
the representatives of the people. It was there seen, that nations are often 
precipitated into ruinous war, from folly, from pride, from ambition, and 
from the desire of military fame. It was believed, no doubt, in committing 
this great subject to the Legislature of the Union, we should be safe from 
the mad wars that have afflicted, and desolated, and ruined other countries. 
It was supposed, that before any war was declared, the nature of the injury 
complained of, would be carefully examined, and the power and resources 
of the enemy estimated, and the power and resources of our own country, 
as well as the probable issue and consequences of the war. It was to guard 
our country against precisely that species of rashness which has been 
manifested in Florida, that the Constitution was so framed. If, then, this 
power, thus cautiously and clearly bestowed upon Congress, has been as- 
sumed and exercised by any other functionary of the government, it is 
cause of serious alarm, and it becomes this body to vindicate and maintain 
its authority by all the means in its power ; and yet there are some gen- 
tlemen, who would have us not merely to yield a tame and silent acquies- 
cence in the encroachment, but even to pass a vote of thanks to the 
author. 

On the 25th of March, 1818, the President of the United States com- 
municated a message to Congress in relation to the Seminole war, in 
which he declared, that although, in the prosecution of it, orders had been 
given to pass into the Spanish territory, they were so guarded as that the 
local authorities of Spain should be respected. How respected ? The 
president, by the documents accompanying the message, the orders them- 
selves which issued from the Department of War to the commanding gen- 



198 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

eral, had assured the Legislature that, even if the enemy should take 
shelter under a Spanish fortress, the fortress was not to be attacked, but 
the fact to be reported to that department for further orders. Congress 
saw, therefore, that there was no danger of violating the existing peace. 
And yet on the same 25th day of March (a most singular concurrence 
of dates), when the representatives of the people received this solemn 
message, announced in the presence of the nation and in the face of the 
world, and in the midst of a friendly negotiation with Spain, does General 
Jackson write from his head-quarters, that he shall take St. Marks as a nec- 
essary depot for his military operations ! The general states, in his let- 
ter, what he had heard about the threat on the part of the Indians and 
negroes, to occupy the fort, and declares his purpose to possess himself of 
it, in either of the two contingencies, of its being in their hands, or in the 
hands of the Spaniards. He assumed a right to judge what Spain was 
bound to do by her treaty, and judged very correctly ; but then he also 
assumed the power, belonging to Congress alone, of determining what 
should be the effect and consequence of her breach of engagement. Gen- 
eral Jackson generally performs what he intimates his intention to do. 
Accordingly, finding St. Marks yet in the hands of the Spaniards, he seized 
and occupied it. Was ever, I ask, the just confidence of the legislative 
body, in the assurances of the chief magistrate, more abused ? The Span- 
ish commander intimated his wiUinffness that the American armv should 
take post near him, until he could have instructions from his superior offi- 
cer, and promised to maintain, in the mean time, the most friendly rela- 
tions. No ! St. Marks was a convenient post for the American army, 
and delay was inadmissible. I have always understood that the Indians 
but rarely take or defend fortresses, because they are unskilled in the modes 
of attack and defense. The threat, therefore, on their part, to seize on 
St. Marks, must have been empty, and would probably have been impos- 
sible. At all events, when General Jackson arrived there, no danger any 
longer threatened the Spaniards, from the miserable fugitive Indians, who 
fled on all sides, upon his approach. And, sir, upon what plea is this vio- 
lation of orders, and this act of war upon a foreign power, attempted to 
be justified ? Upon the grounds of the conveniency of the depot and the 
Indian threat. The first I will not seriously examine and expose. If the 
Spanish character of the fort had been totally merged in the Indian char- 
acter, it might have been justifiable to seize it. But that was not the 
fact ; and the bare possibility of its being forcibly taken by the Indians, 
could not justify our anticipating their blow. Of all the odious transac- 
tions which occurred during the late war between France and England, 
none was more condemned in Europe and in this country, than her 
seizure of the fleet of Denmark, at Copenhagen. And I lament to be 
obliged to notice the analogy which exists in the defenses made of the two 



cases 



If my recollection does not deceive me, Bonaparte had passed the Rhine 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 199 

and the Alps, had conquered Italy, the Netherlands, Holland, Hanover, 
Lubec, and Hamburg, and extended his empire as far as Altona, on the 
Bide of Denmark. A few days' march would have carried him through 
Holstein, over the two Belts, through Funen, and into the island of Zeal- 
and. "What then was the conduct of England \ It was my lot to fall ink) 
conversation with an intelligent Englishman on this subject. " We knew 
(said he) that we were fighting for our existence. It was absolutely nec- 
essarv that we should preserve the command of the seas. If the fleet of 
Denmark fell into the enemy's hands, combined with his other fleets, that 
command might be rendered doubtful. Denmark had only a nominal in- 
dependence. She was, in truth, subject to his sway. "We said to her, Give 
us your fleet ; it will otherwise be taken possession of by your secret and 
our open enemy. We will preserve it, and restore it to you whenever the 
danger shall be over. Denmark refused. Copenhagen was bombarded^ 
gallantly defended, but the fleet was seized." Everywhere the conduct of 
England was censured ; and the name even of the negotiator who was em- 
ployed by her, who was subsequently the minister near this government, 
was scarcely ever pronounced here without coupling with it an epithet 
indicating his participation in the disgraceful transaction. And yet we are 
going to sanction acts of violence, committed by ourselves, which but too 
much resemble it ! What an important difference, too, between the rela- 
tive condition of England and of this country ! She, perhaps, was strug- 
gling for her existence. She was combating, single handed, the most 
enormous military power that the world has ever known. With whom 
were we contending? With a few half-starved, half-clothed, wretched 
Indians, and fugitive slaves. And while carrying on this inglorious war, 
inglorious as it regards the laurels or renown won in it, we violate neutral 
rights, which the government had solemnly pledged itself to respect, upon 
the principle of convenience, or upon the light presumption that, by pos- 
sibility, a post might be taken by this miserable combination of Indians 
and slaves. 

On the 8th of April the general writes from St. Marks that he shall 
march for the Suwaney river ; the destroying of the establishments on 
which will, in his opinion, bring the war to a close. Accordingly, having 
effected that object, he writes, on the 20th of April, that he believes he 
may say that the war is at an end for the present. He repeats the same 
opinion in his letter to the Secretary of War, written six days after. The 
war being thus ended, it might have been hoped that no further hostilities 
would be committed. But on the 23d of May, on his way home, he re- 
ceives a letter from the commandant of Pensacola, intimating his surprise 
at the invasion of the Spanish territory, and the acts of hostility performed 
by the American army, and his determination, if persisted in, to employ 
force to repel them. Let us pause and examine the proceeding of the gov- 
ernor, so very hostile and affrontive in the view of General Jackson. Rec- 
ollect that he was governor of Florida ; that he had received no orders 



200 SPEECHES OF HENKT CLAY. 

from Ill's superiors to allow a passage to the American army ; that he had 
heard of the reduction of St. Marks ; and that General Jackson, at the 
head of his army, was approaching in the direction of Peusacola. He had 
seen the president's message of the 25th of March, and reminded General 
Jackson of it, to satisfy him that the American government could not have 
authorized all those measures. I can not read the allusion made by the 
governor to that message without feeling that the charge of insincerity 
which it implied had, at least, but too much the appearance of truth in it. 
Could the governor have done less than write some such letter ? We have 
only to reverse situations, and suppose him to have been an American gov- 
ernor. General Jackson says that when he received that letter he no 
longer hesitated. No, sir, he did no longer hesitate. He received it on 
the 23d, he was in Peusacola on the 24th, aud immediately after set him- 
self before the fortress of San Carlos de Barancas, which he shortly reduced. 
Veni, vidi, vici. Wonderful energy! Admirable promptitude! Alas! 
that it had not been an energy and a promptitude within the pale of the 
Constitution, and according to the orders of the chief magistrate. It is 
impossible to give any definition of war that would not comprehend these 
acts. It was open, undisguised, and unauthorized hostility 

The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts has endeavored to derive 
some authority to General Jackson from the message of the president, 
and the letter of the Secretary of War to Governor Bibb. The message 
declares that the Spanish authorities are to be respected wherever main- 
tained. What the president means by their beiug maintained is exj>lained 
in the orders themselves, by the extreme case being put of the enemy seek- 
ing shelter under a Spanish fort. If even in that case he was not to at- 
tack, certainly he was not to attack in any case of less strength. The 
letter to Governor Bibb admits of a similar explanation. When the 
secretaiy says, in that letter, that General Jackson is fully empowered to 
bring the Seminole war to a conclusion, he means that he is so empowered 
by his orders, which, being now before us, must speak for themselves. It 
does not appear that General Jackson ever saw that letter, which was 
dated at this place after the capture of St. Marks. I will take a moment- 
ary glance at the orders. 

On the 2d of December, 1817, General Gaines was forbidden to 
cross the Florida line. Seven days after, the Secretary of War having ar- 
rived here, and infused a little more energy into our councils, he was 
authorized to iise a sound discretion in crossing or not. On the 16th, 
he was instructed again to consider himself at liberty to cross the line, aud 
pursue the enemy ; but, if he took refuge under a Spanish fortress, the 
fact was to be reported to the Department of War. These orders were 
transmitted to General Jackson, and constituted, or ought to have consti- 
tuted, his guide. There was then no justification for the occupation of 
Pensacola, aud the attack on the Barancas, in the message of the president, 
the letter to Governor Bibb, or in the orders themselves. The gentleman 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 201 

from Massachusetts will pardon me for saying, that he has undertaken 
what even his talents are not competent to — the maintenance of directly 
contradictory propositions, that it was right in General Jackson to take 
Pensacola, and wrong in the president to keep it. The gentleman has 
made a greater mistake than he supposes General Jackson to have done in 
attacking Pensacola for an Indian town, by attempting the defense both of 
the president and General Jackson. If it were right in him to seize the 
place, it is impossible that it should have been right in the president im- 
mediately to surrender it. We, sir, are the supporters of the president. 
We regret that we can not support General Jackson also. The gentle- 
man's liberality is more comprehensive than ours. I approve with all my 
heart of the restoration of Pensacola. I think St. Marks ought, perhaps, 
to have been also restored; but I say this with doubt and diffidence. That 
the president thought the seizure of the Spanish posts was an act of war, 
is manifest from his opening message, in which he says that, to have re- 
tained them, would have changed our relations with Spain, to do which 
the power of the executive was incompetent, Congress alone possessing it. 
The president has, in this instance, deserved well of his country, lie has 
taken the only course which he could have pursued, consistent with the 
Constitution of the land. And I defy the gentleman to make good both 
his positions, that the general was right in taking, and the president right 
in giving up, the posts. 

[Mr. Holmes explained.] 

The gentleman from Massachusetts is truly unfortunate ; fact or prin- 
ciple is always against him. The Spanish posts were not in the possession 
of the enemy. One old Indian only was found in the Barancas, none in 
Pensacola, none in St. Marks. There was not even the color of a threat of 
Indian occupation as it regards Pensacola and the Barancas. Pensacola 
was to be restored unconditionally, and might, therefore, immediately have 
come into the possession of the Indians, if they had the power and the will 
to take it. The gentleman is in a dilemma from which there is no escape. 
He gave up General Jackson when he supported the president, and gave 
up the president when he supported General Jackson. I rejoice to have 
seen the president manifesting, by the restoration of Pensacola, his devoted- 
ness to the Constitution. When the whole country was ringing with 
plaudits for its capture, I said, and I said alone, in the limited circle in 
which I moved, that the president must surrender it ; that he could not 
hold it. It is not my intention to inquire, whether the army was or was 
not constitutionally marched into Florida. It is not a clear question, and 
I am iuclined to think that the express authority of Congress ought to 
have been asked. The gentleman from Massachusetts will allow me to re- 
fer to a part of the correspondence at Ghent different from that which he 
has quoted. He will find the condition of the Indians there accurately 
defined. And it is widely variant from the gentleman's ideas on this sub- 



202 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ject. The Indians, inhabiting the United States, according to the state- 
ment of the American commissioners at Ghent, have a qualified sovereignty 
only, the supreme sovereignty residing in the government of the United 
Stales. They live under their own laws and customs, may inhabit and 
hunt their lands; but acknowledge the protection of the United States, 
and have no right to sell their lands but to the government of the United 
States. Foreign powers or foreign subjects have no right to maintain any 
intercourse with them, without our permission. They are not, therefore, 
independent nations, as the gentleman supposes. Maintaining the relation 
described with them, we must allow a similar relation to exist between 
Spain and the Indians residing within her dominions. She must be, there- 
fore regarded as the sovereign of Florida, and we are, accordingly, treating 
with her for the purchase of it. In strictness, then, we ought first to have 
demanded of her to restrain the Iudians, and, that failing, we should have 
demanded a right of passage for our army. But, if the president had the 
power to inarch an army into Florida, without consulting Spain, and with- 
out the authority of Congress, he had no power to authorize any act of 
hostility against her. If the gentleman had eveu succeeded in showing 
that an authority was conveyed by the executive to General Jackson to 
take the Spanish posts, he would only have established that unconstitu- 
tional orders had been given, and thereby transferred the disapprobation 
from the military officer to the executive. But no such orders were, in 
truth, given. The president acted in conformity to the Constitution, when 
he forbade the attack of a Spanish fort, and when, in the same spirit, he 
surrendered the posts themselves. 

I will not trespass much longer upon the time of the committee ; but I 
trust I shall be indulged with, some few reflections upon the danger of per- 
mitting the conduct on which it has been my painful duty to animadvert, 
to pass without a solemn expression of the disapprobation of this House. 
Recall to your recollection the free nations which have gone before us. 
Where are they now ? 

Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were, 
A school-boy's tale, the wonder of an hour." 

And how have they lost their liberties ? If w r e could transport ourselves 
back to the ages when Greece and Rome flourished in their greatest pros- 
perity, and mingling in the throng, should ask a Grecian if he did not fear 
that some daring military chieftain, covered with glory, some Philip or 
Alexander, would one day overthrow the liberties of his country, the con- 
fident and indignant Grecian would exclaim, No ! no ! we have nothing to 
fear from our heroes ; our liberties will be eternal. If a Roman citizen 
had been asked, if he did not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might estab- 
lish a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, he would have instantly re- 
pelled the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece fell ; Caesar passed the Rubicon, 
and the patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 203 

devoted country ! The celebrated Madame de Stael, in her last and per- 
haps her best work, has said, that in the very year, almost the very month, 
when the president of the directory declared that monarchy would never 
more show its frightful head in France, Bonaparte, with his grenadiers, en- 
tered the palace of St. Cloud, and dispersing, with the bayonet, the depu- 
ties of the people, deliberating on the affairs of the state, laid the founda- 
tion of that vast fabric of despotism which overshadowed all Europe. I 
hope not to be misunderstood ; I am far from intimating that General 
Jackson cherishes any designs inimical to the liberties of the country. I 
believe his intentions to be pure and patriotic. I thank God that he would 
not, but I thank him still more that he could not if he would, overturn the 
liberties of the Republic. But precedents, if bad, are fraught with the most 
dangerous consequences. Man has been described, by some of those who 
have treated of his nature, as a bundle of habits. The definition is much 
truer when applied to governments. Precedents are their habits. There 
is one important difference between the formation of habits by an individ- 
ual and by governments. He contracts it only after frequent repetition. 
A single instance fixes the habit and determines the direction of gov- 
ernments. Against the alarming doctrine of unlimited discretion in our 
military commanders when applied even to prisoners of war, I must enter 
my protest. It begins upon them ; it will end on us. I hope our happy 
form of government is to be perpetual. But, if it is to be preserved, it must 
be by the practice of virtue, by justice, by moderation, by magnanimity, by 
greatness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady eye on the executive ; 
and, above all, by holding to a strict accountability the military branch of 
the public force. 

We are fighting a great moral battle, for the benefit not only of our 
country, but of all mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in fixed at- 
tention upon us. One, and the largest portion of it, is gazing with con- 
tempt, with jealousy, and with envy ; the other portion, with hope, with 
confidence, and with affection. Everywhere the black cloud of legitimacy 
is suspended over the world, save only one bright spot, which breaks out 
from the political hemisphere of the west, to enlighten, and animate, and 
gladden the human heart. Obscure that, by the downfall of liberty here, 
and all mankind are enshrouded in a pall of universal darkness. To you, 
Mr. Chairman, belongs the high privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to 
posterity, the fair character and liberty of our country. Do you expect to 
execute this high trust, by trampling or suffering to be trampled down, law, 
justice, the Constitution, and the rights of the people ? by exhibiting exam- 
ples of inhumanity, and cruelty, and ambition? When the minions of 
despotism heard, in Europe, of the seizure of Pensacola, how did they 
chuckle, and chide the admirers of our institutions, tauntingly pointing to 
the demonstration of a spirit of injustice and aggrandizement made by our 
country, in the midst of an amicable negotiation ! Behold, said they, the 
conduct of those who are constantly reproaching kings ! You saw how 



204 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

those admirers were astounded and hung their heads. You saw, too, when 
that illustrious man, who presides over us, adopted his pacific, moderate, 
and just course, how they once more lifted up their heads with exultation 
aud delio-ht beaming in their countenances. And you saw how those min- 
ions themselves were finally compelled to unite in the general praises be- 
stowed upon our government. Beware how you forfeit this exalted charac- 
ter. Beware how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant period of our 
republic, scarcely yet two-scorey ears old, to military insubordination. 
Remember that Greece had her Alexander, Rome her Caesar, England 
her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, and that if we would escape the 
rock, ou which they split, we must avoid their errors. 

How different has been the treatment of General Jackson, and that 
modest, but heroic young man, a native of one of the smallest States in the 
Union, who achieved for his country, on lake Erie, one of the most glorious 
victories of the late war. In a moment of passion, he forgot himself, and 
offered an act of violence which was repented of as soon as perpetrated. 
He was tried, and suffered the judgment to be pronounced by his peers. 
Public justice was thought not even then to be satisfied. The press and 
Congress took up the subject. My honorable friend from Virginia (Mr. 
Johnson), the faithful and consistent sentinel of the law and of the Consti- 
tution, disapproved in that instance, as he does in this, and moved an in- 
quiry. The public mind remained agitated aud unappeased, until the 
recent atonement so honorably made by the gallant commodore. And is 
there to be a distinction between the officers of the two branches of the 
public service ? Are former services, however eminent, to preclude even 
inquiry into recent misconduct ? Is there to be no limit, no prudential 
bounds to the national gratitude ? I am not disposed to censure the presi- 
dent for not ordering a court of inquiry, or a general court-martial. Per- 
haps, impelled by a sense of gratitude, he determined, by anticipation, to 
extend to the general that pardon which he had the undoubted right to 
grant after sentence. Let us not shrink from our duty. Let us assert our 
constitutional powers, and vindicate the instrument from military viola- 
tion. 

I hope gentlemen will deliberately survey the awful isthmus on which 
we stand. They may bear down all opposition ; they may even vote the 
general the public thanks ; they may carry him triumphantly through this 
House. But, if they do, in my humble judgment, it will be a triumph of 
the principle of insubordination, a triumph of the military over the civil 
authority, a triumph over the powers of this House, a triumph over the 
Constitution of the land. And I pray most devoutly to Heaven, that it 
may not prove, in its ultimate effects and consequences, a triumph over the 
liberties of the people. 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, APRIL 3, 1820. 

[In a historical point of view, the following speech is chiefly 
interesting, as it shows contingently what would have "been the 
political results to the United States, in regard to Texas, if Mr. 
Clay's advice at this time, as set forth and advocated in this 
speech, had prevailed. The United States then owned the 
whole of Texas to the Rio Grande, or Rio del Norte. In the 
Spanish treaty negotiated by Mr. Monroe, in 1819, and ratified 
in 1820, the considerations given by the United States for Flor- 
ida were, first, Texas ; next, five millions of dollars ; thirdly, 
our claims on Spain, some fifteen millions ; and fourthly, about 
a million of acres of unseated lands in Louisiana, rated by Mr. 
Clay at ten dollars an acre — ten millions. The third and fourth 
considerations were contingent, but nevertheless, as Mr. Clay 
thought, worthy of a reckoning in the account. But the first 
and second alone were enormous, as compared with the price 
paid to France for Louisiana. Texas was an immense territory, 
and of great prospective, though of contingent, value. Politi- 
cally, it might be invaluable, and it has proved so ; for, as a 
possession of the United States, if it had been retained, its po- 
litical history would have been very different, and all the cost of 
annexing Texas, as a foreign State, and the war with Mexico, 
would have been saved. Florida, as Mr. Clay showed, was 
doomed to fall into our lap, and nothing would be lost by 
waiting a little longer. Here is another striking instance of Mr. 
Clay's far-seeing political sagacity. From twenty to thirty 
millions for Florida, and throw into the bargain the vast territory 
of Texas ! Was there ever such a folly ? In Mr. Clay's Ra- 
leigh Letter, of April 17, 1844, he says : " When the treaty was 
laid before the House of Representatives, being a member of 
that body, I expressed the opinion which I then entertained, 
and still hold, that Texas was sacrificed to the acquisition of 
Florida."* 

* Last Seven Years of Henry Clay, p. 26. 



206 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

The speech of Mr. Clay on this occasion was in support of 
two resolutions offered by himself, as follows :] 

First, resolved, that the Constitution of the United States vests in Con- 
gress the power to dispose of the territory belonging to them ; and that 
no treaty, purporting to alienate any portion thereof, is valid without the 
concurrence of Congress : 

Second, resolved, that the equivalent proposed to he given by Spain 
to the United States in the treaty concluded between them, on the 22d 
of February, 1819, for that part of Louisiana lying west of the Sabine, 
was inadequate ; and that it would be inexpedient to make a transfer 
thereof to any foreign power, or to renew the aforesaid treaty : 

Mr. Clay said, that, while he felt very grateful to the House for the 
prompt and respectful manner in which they had allowed him to enter upon 
the discussion of the resolutions which he had the honor of submitting to 
their notice, he must at the same time frankly say, that he thought their 
character and consideration, in the councils of this country, were concerned 
in not letting the present session pass off without deliberating upon our 
affairs with Spain. In coming to the present session' of Congress, it had 
been his anxious wish to be able to concur with the executive branch of 
the government in the measures which it might conceive itself called upon 
to recommend on that subject, for two reasons, of which the first, relating 
personally to himself, he would not trouble the committee with further no- 
ticing. The other was, that it appeared to him to be always desirable, in 
respect to the foreign action of this government, that there should be a 
perfect coincidence in opinion between its several co-ordinate branches. In 
time of peace, however, it might be allowable, to those who are charged 
with the public interests, to entertain and express their respective views, 
although there mio-ht be some discordance between them.' In a season of 
war there should be no division in the public councils ; but a united and 
vigorous exertion to bring the war to an honorable conclusion. For his 
part, whenever that calamity may befall his country, he would entertain 
but one wish, and that is, that success might crown our struggle, and th« 
war be honorably and gloriously terminated. He would never refuse to 
share in the joys incident to tbe victory of our arms, nor to participate in 
the griefs of defeat and discomfiture. He conceded entirely in the senti- 
ment once expressed by that illustrious hero, whose recent melancholy 
fall we all so sincerely deplore, that fortune may attend our country in 
whatever war it may be involved. 

There are two systems of policy, he said, of which our goverment had 
had the choice. The first was, by appealing to the justice and affections 
of Spain, to employ all those persuasives which could arise out of our 
abstinence from any direct countenance to the cause of South America, 
and the observance of a strict neutrality. The other was, by appealing to 
her justice also, and to her fears, to prevail upon her to redress the injuries 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 207 

of which we complain — her fears hy a recognition of the independent 
governments of South America, and leaving her in a state of uncertainly 
as to the farther step we might take in respect to those governments. 
The unratified treaty was the result of the first system. It could not be 
positively affirmed what effect the other system would have produced ; but 
he verily believed that, while it rendered justice to those governments, 
and would have better comported with that magnanimous policy which 
ought to have characterized our own, it would have more successfully 
tended to an amicable and satisfactory arrangement of our differences with 
Spain. 

The first system has so far failed. At the commencement of the session, 
the president recommended an enforcement of the provisions of the treaty. 
After three months' deliberation, the committee of foreign affairs, not being 
able to concur with him, has* made us a report, recommending the seizure 
of Florida in the nature of a reprisal. Now the president recommends our 
postponement of the subject until the next session. It had been his inten- 
tion, whenever the committee of foreign affairs should engage the House 
to act upon their bill, to offer, as a substitute for it, the system which he 
thought it became this country to adopt, of which the occupation of Texas, 
as our own, would have been a part, and the recognition of the independ- 
ent governments of South America another. If he did not now bring 
forward this system, it was because the committee proposed to withdraw 
their bill, and because he knew too much of the temper of the House and 
of the executive, to think that it was advisable to bring it forward. He 
hoped that some suitable opportunity might occur during the session, for 
considering the propriety of recognizing the independent governments of 
South America. 

Whatever he might think of the discretion which was evinced in recom- 
mending the postponement of the bill of the committee of foreign relations, 
he could not think that the reasons, assigned by the president for that recom- 
mendation, were entitled to the weight which he had given them. He 
thought the House was called upon, by a high sense of duty, seriously to 
animadvert upon some of those reasons. He believed it was the first 
example, in the annals of the country, in which a course of policy, re- 
specting one foreign power, which we must suppose had been deliberately 
considered, has been recommended to be abandoned, in a domestic com- 
munication from one to another co-ordinate branch of the government, 
upon the avowed ground of the interposition of foreign powers. And 
what is the nature of this interposition ? It is evinced by a cargo of 
scraps, gathered up from this charge d'affaires, and that ; of loose conver- 
sations held with this foreign minister, and that — perhaps mere levee con- 
versations, without a commitment in writing, in a solitary instance, of any 
of the foreign parties concerned, except only in the case of his imperial 
majesty ; and what was the character of his commitment we shall presently 
see. But he must enter his solemn protest again this and every other 



208 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

species of foreign interference in our matters with Spain. What have 
they to do with them ? Would they not repel as officious and insulting 
intrusion, any interference on our part in their concerns with foreign 
states ? Would his imperial majesty have listened with complacency to 
our remonstrances against the vast acquisitions which he has recently 
made ? He has lately crammed his enormous maw with Finland, and 
with the spoils of Poland, and, while the difficult process of digestion is 
going on, he throws himself upon a couch, and cries out, Don't, don't dis- 
turb my repose. 

He charges his minister here to plead the cause of peace and concord ! 
The American " government is too enlightened" (ah ! sir, how sweet this 
unction is, which is poured down our backs), to take hasty steps. And 
his imperial majesty's minister here is required to engage (Mr. Clay said, 
he hoped the original expression was less strong, but he believed the 
French word engager bore the same meaning), " the American govern- 
ment," etc. " Nevertheless, the emperor does not interpose iu this discus- 
sion." No ! not he. He makes above all " no pretension to exercise in- 
fluence in the councils of a foreign power." Not the slightest. And yet, 
at the very instant when he is protesting against the imputation of this 
influence, his interposition is proving effectual ! His imperial majesty has 
at least manifested so far, in this particular, his capacity to govern his em- 
pire by the selection of a sagacious minister. For if Count Nesselrode 
had never written another paragraph, the extract from his dispatch to Mr. 
Poletica, which has been transmitted to this House, will demonstrate that 
^he merited the confidence of his master. It is quite refreshing to read 
such state papers, after perusing those (he was sorry to say it, he wished 
there was a vail broad and thick enough to conceal them forever), which 
this treaty had produced on the part of our government. 

Conversations between my Lord Castlereagh and our minister at London 
had also been communicated to this House. Nothing from the hand of 
his lordship is produced — no ; he does not commit himself in that way. 
The sense in which our minister understood him, and the purport of cer- 
tain parts of dispatches from the British government to its minister at 
Madrid, which he deigned to read to our minister, are alone communicated 
to us. Now we know very well how diplomatists, when it is their j)leas- 
ure to do so, can wrap themselves up in mystery. No man more than 
my Lord Castlereagh, who is also an able minister, possessing much greater 
talents than are allowed to him generally in this country, can successfully 
express himself in ambiguous language, when he chooses to employ it. 
He recollected himself once to have witnessed this facility, on the part of 
his lordship. The case was this : When Bonaparte made his escape from 
Elba, and invaded France, a great part of Europe believed it was with the 
connivance of the British ministry. The opposition charged them, in 
Parliament, Avith it, and they were interrogated, to know what measures 
of precaution they had taken against such an event. Lord Castlereagh 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 209 

replied by staling fbat there was an understanding with a certain naval 
officer of high rank, commanding in the adjacent seas, that he was to act 
on certain contingences. Now, Mr. Chairman, if you can make any thing 
intelligible out of this reply, you will have much more success than the 
English opposition bad. 

Tbe allowance of interference by foreign powers in the affairs of our 
government, not pertaining to themselves, is against the counsels of all our 
wisest politicians — those of Washington, Jefferson, and he would also add 
those of the present chief magistrate ; for, pending this very Spanish 
negotiation, the offer of the mediation of foreign states was declined, upon 
the true ground, that Europe had her system, and we ours ; and that it 
was not compatible with our policy to entangle ourselves in the labyrinths 
of hers. But a mediation is far preferable to the species of interference 
on which it had been his reluctant duty to comment. The mediator is a 
judge, placed on high ; his conscience his guide, the world his spectators, 
and posterity his judge. His position is one, therefore, of the greatest 
responsibility. But what responsibility is attached to this sort of irregular, 
drawing-room, intriguing interposition ? He could see no motive for 
governing or influencing our policy, in regard to Spain, furnished in any 
of the communications which respected the disposition of foreign powers. 
He regretted, for his part, that they had at all been consulted. There was 
nothing in the character of the power of Spain, nothing in the beneficial 
nature of the stipulations of the treaty to us, which warranted us in seek- 
ing the aid of foreign powers, if in any case whatever that aid w r ere desir- 
able. He was far from saying that, in the foreign action of this govern- 
ment, it might not be prudent to keep a watchful eye upon the probable 
conduct of foreign powers. That might be a material circumstance to be 
taken into consideration. But he never would avow to our own people, 
never promulgate to foreign powers, that their wishes and interference 
were the controlling cause of our policy. Such promulgation would lead 
to the most alarming consequences. It was to invite further interposition. 
It might, in process of time, create in the bosom of our country a Russian 
faction, a British faction, a French faction. Every nation ought to be 
jealous of this species of interference, whatever was its form of govern- 
ment. But of all forms of government, the united testimony of all history, 
admonished a republic to be most guarded against it. From the moment 
Philip intermeddled with the affairs of Greece, the liberty of Greece was 
doomed to inevitable destruction. 

Suppose, said Mr. Clay, we could see the communications which have 
passed between his imperial majesty and the British government, respect- 
ively , and Spain, in regard to the United States ; what do you imagine 
would be their character ? Do you suppose the same language has been 
held to Spain and to us ? Do you not, on the contrary, believe that senti- 
ments have been expressed to her, consoling to her pride ? That we have 

14 



210 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

been represented, perhaps, as an ambitious republic, seeking to aggrandize 
ourselves at her expense ? 

In the other ground taken by the president — the present distressed con- 
dition of Spain — for his recommendation of forbearance to act during the 
present session, he was also sorry to say, that it did not appear to him to 
be solid. He could well conceive, how the weakness of your aggressor 
might, when he was withholding from you justice, form a motive for your 
pressing your equitable demands upon him ; but he could not accord in 
the wisdom of that policy which would wait his recovery of strength, so 
as to enable him successfully to resist those demands. Nor would it com- 
port with the practice of our government heretofore. Did we not, in 1811, 
when the -present monarch of Spain was an ignoble captive, and the people 
of the peninsula were contending for the inestimable privilege of self- 
government, seize and occupy that part of Louisiana which is situated be- 
tween the Mississippi and the Perdido ? What must the people of Spain 
think of that policy which would not spare them, and which commiserates 
alone an unworthy prince, who ignominiously surrendered himself to the 
enemy — a vile despot, of whom I can not speak in appropriate language, 
without departing from the respect due to this House or to myself? What 
must the people of South America think of this sympathy for Ferdinand, 
at a moment when they, as well as the people of the peninsula themselves 
(if we are to believe the late accounts, and God send that they may be 
true), are struggling for liberty ? 

Again : when we declared our late just war against Great Britain, did we 
wait for a moment when she was free from embarrassment or distress; or 
did we not rather wisely select a period when there was the greatest prob- 
ability of giving success to our arms ? What was the complaint in E n- 
gland ; what the language of faction here ? Was it not, that we had cruelly 
proclaimed the war at a time when she was struggling for the liberties of 
the world ? How truly, let the sequel and the voice of impartial history 
tell. 

While he could not, therefore, persuade himself, that the reasons assign- 
ed, by the president for postponing the subject of our Spanish affairs until 
another session, were entitled to all the weight which he seemed to think 
belonged to them, he did not, nevertheless, regret that the particular pro- 
ject recommended by the committee of foreign relations was thus to be 
disposed of ; for it was war — war, attempted to be disguised. And if we 
went to war, he thought it should have no other limit than indemnity for 
the past, and security for the future. He had no idea of the wisdom of 
that measure of hostility which would bind us, while the other party is 
left free. 

Before he proceeded to consider the particular propositions which the 
resolutions contained, which he had had the honor of submitting, it was 
material to determine the actual posture of our relations to Spain. He 
considered it too clear to need discussion, that the treaty was at an end ; 



ON THE SPANISH TEEATY. 211 

that it contained, in its present state, no obligation whatever upon us, and 
no obligation whatever on the part of Spain. It was, as if it had never 
been. We are remitted back to the state of our rights and our demands 
which existed prior to the conclusion of the treaty, with this only differ- 
ence, that, instead of being merged in, or weakened by the treaty, they had 
acquired all the additional force which the intervening time, and the faith- 
lessness of Spain, can communicate to them. Standing on this position, 
he should not deem it necessary to interfere with the treaty-making power, 
if a fixed and persevering purpose had not been indicated by it, to obtain 
the revival of the treaty. Now he thought it a bad treaty. The interest 
of the country, as it appeared to him, forbade its renewal. Being gone, it 
was perfectly incomprehensible to him, why so much solicitude was mani- 
fested to restore it. Yet it is clung to with the same sort of frantic affec- 
tion with which the bereaved mother hugs her dead infant, in the vain hope 
of bringing it back to life. 

Has the House of Representatives aright to express its opinion upon the 
arrangement made in that treaty ? The president, by asking Congress to 
carry it into effect, has given us jurisdiction of the subject, if we had it not 
before. We derive from that circumstance the right to consider, first, if 
there be a treaty ; secondly, if we ought to carry it into effect ; and, thirdly, 
if there be no treaty, whether it be expedient to assert our rights, inde- 
pendent of the treaty. It will not be contended that we are restricted to 
that specific mode of redress which the president intimated in his opening 
message. 

The first resolution which he had presented, asserted, that the Constitu- 
tion vests in the Congress of the United States the power to dispose of the 
territory belonging to them ; and that no treaty, purporting to alienate any 
portion thereof, is valid, without the concurrence of Congress. It was far 
from his wish to renew at large a discussion of the treaty-making power. 
The Constitution of the United States had not defined the precise limits of 
that power, because, from the nature of it, they could not be prescribed. 
It appeared to him, however, that no safe American statesman would as- 
sign to it a boundless scope. He presumed, for example, that it would not 
be contended that in a government which was itself limited, there was a 
functionary without limit. The first great bound to the power in question, 
he apprehended, was, that no treaty could constitutionally transcend the 
very objects and purposes of the government itself. He thought, also, that 
wherever there were specific grants of powers to Congress, they limited 
and controlled, or, he would rather say, modified the exercise of the gen- 
eral grant of the treaty-making power, upon the principle which was 
familiar to every one. He did not insist, that the treaty-making power 
could not act upon the subjects committed to the charge of Congress ; he 
merely contended that the concurrence of Congress, in its action upon those 
subjects, was necessary. Nor would he insist, that the concurrence should 
precede that action. It would be always most desirable that it should pre- 



212 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY 

cede it, if convenient, to guard against the commitment of Congress, on 
the one hand, by the executive, or on the other, what might seem to be a 
violation of the faith of the country, pledged for the ratification of the 
treaty. But he was perfectly aware, that it would be very often highly 
inconvenient to deliberate, in a body so numerous as Congress, on the na- 
ture of those terms on which it might be proper to treat with foreign pow- 
ers. In the view of the subject which he had been taking, there was a 
much higher degree of security to the interests of this country. For, with 
all respect to the president and Senate, it could not disparage the wisdom 
of their councils, to add to that of this House also. But, if the concurrence 
of this House be not necessary in the cases asserted, if there be no restric- 
tion upon the power he was considering, it might draw to itself and ab- 
sorb the whole of the powers of government. To contract alliances ; to 
stipulate for raising troops to be employed in a common war about to be 
waged ; to grant subsidies ; even to introduce foreign troops within the bosom 
of the country ; were not unfrequent instauces of the exercise of this power ; 
and if, in all such cases the honor and faith of the nation were committed, 
by the exclusive act of the president and Senate, the melancholy duty alone 
might be left to Congress of recording the ruin of the republic. 

Supposing, however, that no treaty, which undertakes to dispose of the 
territory of the United States, is valid, without the concurrence of Con- 
gress, it may be contended, that such treaty may constitutionally fix the 
limits of the territory of the United States, where they are disputed, with- 
out co-operation of Congress. He admitted it, when the fixation of the 
limits simply was the object. As in the case of the river St. Croix, or the 
more recent stipulation in the treaty of Ghent, or in that of the treaty of 
Spain in 1795. In all these cases, the treaty-making power merely 
reduces to certainty that which was before unascertained. It an- 
nounces the fact; it proclaims, in a tangible form, the existence of the 
boundary. It does not make a new boundary ; it asserts only where the 
old boundary was. But it can not, under color of fixing a boundary pre- 
viously existing, though not in fact marked, undertake to cede away, 
without, the concurrence of Congress, whole provinces. If the subject be 
one of a mixed character, if it consists partly of cession, and partly of the 
fixation of a prior limit, he contended that the president must come here 
for the consent of Congress. But in the Florida treaty it was not pre- 
tended that the object was simply a declaration of where the western limit 
of Louisiana was. It was, on the contrary, the case of an avowed cession 
of territory from the United States to Spain. The whole of the corre- 
spondence manifested that the respective parties to the negotiation were not 
engaged so much in an inquiry where the limit of Louisiana was, as that 
they were exchanging overtures as to where it should be. Hence, we find 
various limits proposed and discussed. At one time the Mississippi is pro- 
posed ; then the Missouri ; then a river discharging itself into the gulf 
east of the Sabine. A vast desert is proposed to separate the territories 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 213 

of the two powers ; and finally the Sabine, which neither of the parties 
had ever contended was the ancient limit of Louisiana, is adopted, and the 
boundary is extended from its source by a line perfectly new and arbitrary ; 
and the treaty itself proclaims its purpose to be a cession from the United 
States to Spain. 

The second resolution comprehended three propositions ; the first of 
which was, that the equivalent granted by Spain to the United States, for 
the province of Texas, was inadequate. To determine this, it was neces- 
sary to estimate the value of what we gave, and of what we received. 
This involved an inquiry into our claim to Texas. It was not his purpose 
to enter at large iuto this subject. He presumed the spectacle would not 
be presented of questioning, in this branch of the government, our title to 
Texas, which has been constantly maintained by the executive for more 
than fifteen years past, under three several administrations. He was, at 
the same time, ready and prepared to make out our title, if any one in the 
House were fearless enough to controvert i: He would, for the present, 
briefly state, that the man who is most familiar with the transactions of 
this government, who largely participated in the formation of our Con- 
stitution, and all that has been done under it, who, besides the eminent 
services that he has rendered his country, principally contributed to the 
acquisition of Louisiana, who must be supposed, from his various oppor- 
tunities, best to know its limits, declared, fifteen years ago, that our title to 
the Rio del Norte was as well founded as it w'as to the island of New 
Orleans. [Here Mr. Clay read an extract from a memoir presented in 
1805, by Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinckney, to Mr. Cevallos, proving that the 
boundary of Louisiana extended eastward to the Perdido, aud westward 
to the Rio del Norte, in which they say, " the facts and principles which 
justify this conclusion, are so satisfactory to their government as to con- 
vince it, that the United States have not a better right to the island of 
New Orleans, under the cession referred to, than they have to the whole 
district of territory thus described."] The title to the Perdido on the one 
side, and to the Rio del Norte on the other, rested on the same principle — 
priority of discovery and of occupation by France. Spain had first dis- 
covered and made an establishment at Pensacola ; France at Dauphine 
island, in the bay of Mobile. The intermediate space was unoccupied ; 
and the principle observed among European nations having contiguous 
settlements, being, that the unoccupied space between them should be 
equally divided, was applied to it, and the Perdido thus became the com- 
mon boundary. So, west, of the Mississippi, La Salle, acting under France, 
in 1682 or 83, first discovered that river. In 1685, he made an establish- 
ment on the bay of St. Bernard, west of the Colorado, emptying into it. 
The nearest Spanish settlement was Panuco ; and the Rio del Norte, about 
the midway line, became the common boundary. 

All the accounts concurred in representing Texas to be extremely valu 
able. Its superficial extent was three or four times greater than that of 



214 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Florida. The climate was delicious ; the soil fertile ; the margins of the 
rivers abounding in live oak; and the country admitting of easy settle- 
ment. It possessed, moreover, if he were not misinformed, one of the 
finest ports in the Gulf of Mexico. The productions of which it was capa- 
ble were suited to our wants. The unfortunate captive of St. Helena 
wished for ships, commerce, and colonies. We have them all, if we do 
not wantonly throw them away. The colonies of other countries are 
separated from them by vast seas, requiring great expense to protect them, 
and are held subject to a constant risk of their being torn from their grasp. 
Our colonies, on the contrary, are united to and form part of our con- 
tinent ; and the same Mississippi, from whose rich deposit tho best of them 
(Louisiana) has been formed, will transport on her bosom the brave, the 
patriotic men from her tributary streams, to defend and preserve the next 
most valuable, the province of Texas. 

We wanted Florida, or rather we shall want it ; or, to speak more cor- 
rectly, we want no body else to have it. We do not desire it for imme- 
diate use. It fills a sjjace in our imagination, and we wish it to complete 
the arrondissement of our territory. It must certainly come to us. The 
ripened fruit will not more surely fall. Florida is inclosed in between 
Alabama and Georgia, and can not escape. Texas may. Whether we 
get Florida now, or some five or ten years hence, it is of no conse- 
quence, provided no other power gets it ; aud if any other power should 
attempt to take it, an existing Act of Congress authorizes the president to 
prevent it. He was not disposed to disparage Florida, but its intrinsic 
value was incomparably less than that of Texas. Almost its sole value was 
military. The possession of it would undoubtedly communicate some ad- 
ditional security to Louisiana, and to the American commerce in the Gulf 
of Mexico. But it was not very essential to have it for protection to 
Georgia and Alabama. There could be no attack on either of them, by a 
foreign power, on the side of Florida. It now covered those States. An- 
nexed to the United States, and we should have to extend our line of de- 
fense so as to embrace Florida. Far from being, therefore, a source of 
immediate profit, it would be the occasion of considerable immediate ex- 
pense. The acquisition of it was certainly a fair object of our policy ; and 
ought never to be lost sight of. It is even a laudable ambition, in any 
chief magistrate, to endeavor to illustrate the epoch of his administration 
by such an acquisition. It was less necessary, however, to fill the measure 
of honors of the present chief magistrate than that of any other man, in 
consequence of the large share which he had in obtaining all Louisiana. 
But, whoever may deserve the renown which may attend the incorporation 
of Florida into our confederacy, it is our business, as the representatives of 
that people who are to pay the price of it, to take care, as far as we con- 
stitutionally can, that too much is not given. He would not give Texas 
for Florida in a naked exchange. We were bound by the treaty to give 
not merely Texas, but five millions of dollars also, and the excess beyond 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 215 

that sum of all our claims upon Spain, which have been variously esti- 
mated at from fifteen to twenty millions of dollars ! 

Tiie public is not generally apprized of another large consideration 
which passed from us to Spain ; if an interpretation which he had heard 
given to the treaty were just ; and it certainly was plausible. Subsequent 
to the transfer, but before the delivery of Louisiana from Spain to France, 
the then governor of New Orleans (he believed his name was Gayoso) 
made a number of concessions, upou the payment of an inconsiderable 
pecuniary consideration, amounting to between nine hundred thousand and 
a million acres of land, similar to those recently made at Madrid to the 
royal favorites. This land is situated in Feliciana, and between the Mis- 
sissippi and the Amitie, in the present State of Louisiana. It was granted 
to persons who possessed the very best information of the country, and is 
no doubt, therefore, the choice land. The United States have never rec- 
ognized, but have constantly denied the validity of these concessions. It 
is contended by the parties concerned that they are confirmed by the late 
treaty. By the second article his Catholic majesty cedes to the United 
States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to 
him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of 
East and West Florida. And by the eighth article, all grants of land 
made before the 24th of January, 1818, by his Catholic majesty, or by his 
lawful authorities, shall be ratified and confirmed, etc. Now, the grants in 
question having been made long prior to that day, are supposed to be con- 
firmed. He understood from a person interested, that Don Onis had as- 
sured him it was his intention to confirm them. Whether the American 
negotiator had the same intention or not, he did not know. It will not be 
pretended that the letter of Mr. Adams of the 12th of March, 1818, in 
which he declines to treat any further with respect to any part of the ter- 
ritory included within the limits of the State of Louisiana, can control the 
operation of the subsequent treaty. That treaty must be interpreted by 
what is in it, and not by what is out of it. The overtures which passed 
between the parties respectively, prior to the conclusion of the treaty, can 
neither restrict nor enlarge its meaning. Moreover, when Mr. Madison 
occupied, in 1811, the country between the Mississippi and the Perdido, 
he declared that in our hands it should be, as it has been, subject to ne- 
gotiation. 

It results, then, that we have given for Florida, charged and incumber- 
ed as it is, 

First, unincumbered Texas ; 
Secondly, five millions of dollars ; 

Thirdly, a surrender of all our claims upon Spain, not included in that 
five millions ; and, 

Fourthly, if the interpretation of the treaty which he had stated were 
well founded, about a million of acres of the best unseated land in the State 
of Louisiana, worth perhaps ten millions of dollars. 



216 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

The first proposition contained in the second resolution, was thus, he 
thought, fully sustained. The next was, that it was inexpedient to cede 
Texas to any foreign power. They constituted, in his opinio:], a sacred in- 
heritance of posterity, which we ought to preserve unimpaired. He wished 
it was, if it were not, a fundamental and inviolable law of the land, that 
they should be inalienable to any foreign power. It was quite evi lent, 
that it was in the order of providence ; that it was an inevitable result of 
the principle of population, that the whole of this continent, including 
Texas, was to be peopled in process of time. The question was, by whose 
race shall it be peopled ? In our hands it will be peopled by freemen, and 
the sous of freemen, carrying with them our language, our laws, and our 
liberties ; establishing, on the prairies of Texas, temples dedicated to the 
simple and devout modes of worship of God, incident to our religion, and 
temples dedicated to that freedom which we adore next to Him. In the 
hands of others, it may become the habitation of despotism and of slaves, 
subject to the vile dominion of the inquisition aud of superstition. He 
knew that there were honest and enlightened men, who feared that our 
confederacy was already too large, and that there was danger of disruption, 
arising out of the want of reciprocal coherence between its several parts. 
He hoped and believed, that the principal of representation, and the form- 
ation of States, would preserve us a united people. But if Texas, after 
being peopled by us, and grappling with us, should, at some distant day, 
break off, she will carry along with her a noble crew, consisting of our 
children's children. The difference between those who might be disin- 
clined to its annexation to our confederacy, and him, was, that their system 
began where his might, possibly, in some distant future day, terminate ; 
and theirs begin with a foreign race, aliens to every thing that we hold 
dear, and his ended with a race partaking of all our qualities. 

The last proposition which the second resolution affirms, is, that it is in- 
expedient to renew the treaty. If Spain had promptly ratified it, bad as 
it is, he would have acquiesced in it. After the protracted negotiation 
which it terminated; after the irritating and exasperating correspondence 
which preceded it, he would have taken the treaty as a man who has 
passed a long and restless night, turning and tossing in his bed, snatches 
at day, an hour's disturbed repose. But she would not ratify it ; she 
would not consent to be bound by it ; and she has liberated us from it. 
Is it wise to renew the negotiation, if it is to be recommenced, by announ- 
cing to her at once our ultimatum ? Shall we not give her the vantage- 
ground ? In early life he had sometimes indulged in a species of amuse- 
ment, which years and experience had determined him to renounce, which, 
if the committee would allow him to use it, furnished him with a figure — 
shall we enter on the game, with our hand exposed to the adversary, while 
he shuffles the cards to acquire more strength ? What has lost us his 
ratification of the treaty \ Incontestably, our importunity to procure the 
ratification, and the hopes which that importunity inspired, that he could 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 217 

yet obtain more from us. Let us undeceive him. Let us proclaim the 
acknowledged truth, that the treaty is prejudicial to the interests of this 
country. Are we not told by the Secretary of State, in the bold and con- 
fident assertion, that Don Onis was authorized to grant us much more, and 
that Spain dare not deny his instructions ? The line of demarcation is far 
within his limits ! If she would have then granted us more, is her posi- 
tion now more favorable to her in the negotiation ? In our relations to 
foreign powers, it may be sometimes politic to sacrifice a portion of our 
rights to secure the residue. But is Spain such a power, as that it be- 
comes us to sacrifice those rights \ Is she entitled to it by her justice, by 
her observance of good faith, or by her possible annoyance of us in the 
event of war ? She will seek, as she has sought, procrastination in the 
negotiation, taking the treaty as the basis. She will dare to offend us, as 
she has insulted us, by asking the disgraceful stipulation, that we shall not 
recognize the patriots. Let us put aside the treaty ; tell her to grant 
us our rights, to their uttermost extent. And il she still palters, let us 
assert those rights by whatever measures it is for the interest of our 
country to adopt. 

If the treaty was abandoned ; if we were not on the contrary signified, 
too distinctly, that there was to be a continued and unremitting endeavor 
to obtain its revival ; he would not think it advisable for this House to in- 
terpose. But, with all the information in our possession, and holding the 
opinions which he entertained, he thought it the bounden duty of the 
House to adopt the resolutions. He had acquitted himself of what he 
deemed a solemn duty, in bringing up the subject. Others could discharge 
theirs according- to their own sense of them. 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, APRIL 26, 1820. 

[Fkom the beginning of Mr. Clay's public life, as far back as 
his appearance in the Legislature of Kentucky, he was ever a 
steady, vigilant, and vigorous advocate for the protection of 
home industry. Amid all the fluctuations of opinion with other 
statesmen, and in face of all the free-trade theories of econo- 
mists, he never deviated on this subject. It was a part of his 
natural instincts to discern the position of American capital, 
labor, and art, as they are affected by foreign interests of the 
same kind, and to sympathize with the former, when suffering 
disadvantage by the action of the latter upon them. Eminently 
practical in his views, Mr. Clay had very little respect for the 
abstract theories of economists. 

The war of 1812 had, by necessity, built up a system of 
American manufactures, and when peace came, it began to tot- 
ter and fall, in competition with foreign products of the same 
classes. The Tariff of 1816 was enacted to save it, but it proved 
inadequate, or not well adapted. The experience of the country 
for the first five years subsequent to the peace, had taught our 
statesmen what was wanted, and the Tariff bill of 1820 was 
prepared with great care, and reported by Mr. Baldwin of Penn- 
sylvania, who was afterward promoted to the bench of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States. It was in support of this 
bill that the following speech was made. The bill passed the 
House by a vote of ninety to sixty-nine, but failed in the Senate 
by twenty-two against twenty-one — so narrow a chance doomed 
the country to four years more of the greatest commercial em- 
barrassments ; for it was not till the Tariff of 1824 that trade 
and business began to revive. Mr. Clay afterward found, by 
comparison, that the seven years previous to the Tariff of 1824 
was a period of the greatest commercial depression, and the seven 
years subsequent to that event a period of the greatest commer- 
cial prosperity which the country had ever experienced. The 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 219 

last four years of the first-named period — the most pinching 
and most distressing of the seven — were brought about by that 
unfortunate vote of the Senate, in 1820, of twenty-two to 
twenty-one. The vote of the House for the Tariff of 1820 was 
a decided majority- To this result, the following speech of Mr. 
Clay no doubt contributed in a very large measure. Probably 
it was the means of it. Pity that the same influence could not 
have been carried into the Senate ; for four years of such ad- 
versity was an incalculable subtraction from the wealth of the 
country.] 

Mr. Chairman — Whatever may be the value of my opinions on tho 
interesting subject now before us, they have not been hastily formed. It 
may possibly be recollected by some gentlemen that I expressed them when 
the existing tariff was adopted ; and that I then urged, that the period of 
the termination of the war, during which the manufacturing industry of 
the country had received a powerful spring, was precisely that period when 
government was alike impelled, by duty and interest, to protect it against 
the free admission of foreign fabrics, consequent upon a state of peace. I 
insisted, on that occasion, that a less measure of protection would prove 
more efficacious, at that time, than one of greater extent at a future day. 
My wishes prevailed only in part ; and we are now called upon to decide 
whether we will correct the error which, I think, we then committed. 

In considering the subject, the first important inquiry that we should 
make is, whether it be desirable that such a portion of the capital and 
labor of the country should be employed in the business of manufacturing, 
as would furnish a supply of our necessary wants ? Since the first colon- 
ization of America, the principal direction of the labor and capital of the 
inhabitants has been to produce raw materials for the consumption or fab- 
rication of foreign nations. We have always had, in great abundance, 
the means of subsistence, but we have derived chiefly from other countries 
our clothes, and the instruments of defense. Except during those inter- 
ruptions of commerce arising from a state of war, or from measures 
adopted for vindicating our commercial rights, we have experienced no 
very great inconvenience heretofore from this mode of supply. The lim- 
ited amount of our surplus produce, resulting from the smalluess of our 
numbers, and the long and ai duous covwulsions of Europe, secured us good 
markets for that surplus in her ports, or those of her colonies. But those 
convulsions have now ceased, and our population has reached nearly ten 
millions. r K new epoch has arisen ; and it becomes us deliberately to con-~| 
template our own actual condition, and the relations which are likely to 
exist between us and the other parts of the world. I The actual state of 
our population, and the ratio of its progressive increase, when compared 
with the ratio of the increase of the population of the countries which 



220 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

have hitherto consumed our raw produce, seem, to me, alone to demon- 
strate the necessity of diverting some portion of our industry from its ac- 
customed channel. We double our population in or about the term of 
twenty-five years. If there be no change in the mode of exerting our in- 
dustry, Ave shall double, during the same term, the amount of our export- 
able produce. Europe, including such of her colonies as we have free ac- 
cess to, taken altogether, does not duplicate her population in a shorter 
term, probably, than one hundred years. The ratio of the increase of her 
capacity of consumption, therefore, is, to that of our capacity of pro- 
duction, as one is to four. And it is manifest, from the simple exhibition 
of the powers of the consuming countries, compared with those of the 
supplying country, that the former are inadequate to the latter. It is 
certainly true, that a portion of the mass of our raw produce, which we 
transmit to her, reverts to us in a fabricated form, and that this return aug- 
ments with our increasing population. This is, however, a very inconsid- 
erable addition to her actual ability to afford a market for the produce of 
our industry. 

I believe that we are already beginning to experience the want of ca- 
pacity in Europe to consume our surplus produce. Take the articles of 
cotton, tobacco, and bread-stuffs. For the latter we have scarcely any for- 
eign demand. And is there not reason to believe that we have reached 
if we have not passed, the maximum of the foreign demand for the other 
two articles ? Considerations connected with the cheapness of cotton, as 
a raw material, and the facility with which it can be fabricated, will prob- 
ably make it to be more and more used as a substitute for other materials. 
But, after you allow to the demand for it the utmost extension of which it 
is susceptible, it is yet quite limited — limited by the number of persons 
who use it, by their wants and their ability to supply them. If we have 
not reached, therefore, the maximum of the foreign demand (as I believe 
we have), we must soon fully satisfy it. With respect to tobacco, that ar- 
ticle affording an enjoyment not necessary, as food and clothes are, to 
human existeuce, the foreign demaud for it is still more precarious, and I 
apprehend that we have already passed its limits. It appears to me, then, 
that, if we consult our interests merely, we ought to encourage home 
manufactures. But there are other motives to recommend it, of not less 
importance. 

The wants of man may be classed under three heads : food, raiment, and 
defense. They are felt alike in the state of barbarism and of civilization. 
He must be defended against the ferocious beast of prey in the one condi- 
tion, and against the ambition, violence, and injustice incident to the 
other. If he seeks to obtain a supply of those wants without giving an 
equivalent, he is a beggar or a robber ; if by promising au equivalent 
which he can not give, he is fraudulent, and if by commerce, in which 
there is perfect freedom on his side, while he meets with nothing but re- 
strictions on the other, he submits to an unjust and degrading inequality. 



ON THE PKOTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 221 

What is true of individuals is equally so of nations. The country, then, 
which relies upon foreign nations for either of those great essentials, is not, 
in fact, independent. Nor is it any consolation for our dependence upon 
other nations that they are also dependent upon us, even were it true. 
Every nation should anxiously endeavor to establish its absolute independ- 
ence, and consequently be able to feed, and clothe, and defend itself. If iF~ 
rely upon a foreign supply, that may be cut oft' by the caprice of the nation 
yielding it, by war with it, or even by war with other nations ; it can not 
be independent. But it is not true that any other nations depend upon us 
in a degree any thing like equal to that of our dependence upon them for 
the great necessaries to which I have referred. Every other nation seeks 
to supply itself with them from its own resources ; and so strong is the 
desire which they feel to accomplish this purpose, that they exclude the 
cheaper foreign article for the dearer home production. Witness the En- 
glish policy in regard to corn. So selfish, in this respect, is the conduct 
of other powers that, in some instances, they even prohibit the produce of 
the industry of their own colonies when it comes into competition with the 
produce of the parent country. All other countries but our own exclude by 
high duties, or absolute prohibitions, whatever they can respectively pro- 
duce within themselves. {The truth is, and it is in vain to disguise it, that 
we are a sort of independent colonies of England — politically free, com- 
mercially slaves. Gentlemen tell us of the advantage of a free exebauge 
of the produce of the workh But they tell us of what has never existed, does 
not exist, and perhaps never will exist. They invoke us to give perfect 
freedom on our side, while, in the ports of every other nation, we are met 
with a code of odious restrictions, shutting out entirely a great part of our 
produce, and letting in only so much as they can not possibly do without* 
I will hereafter examine their favorite maxim, of leaving things to them- 
selves, more particularly. At present I will only say that I too am a friend 
to free trade, but it must be a free trade of perfect reciprocity. If the gov- 
erning consideration were cheapness ; if national independence were to 
weigh nothing ; if honor nothing ; why not subsidize foreign powers to 
defend us? why not hire Swiss or Hessian mercernaries to protect us 1 why 
not get our arms of all kinds, as we do in part, the blankets and clothing 
of our soldiers, from abroad ? We should probably consult economy by 
these dangerous expedients. 

But, say gentlemen, there are to the manufacturing system some in- 
herent objections, which should induce us to avoid its introduction into 
this country ; and we are warned by the example of England, by her pau- 
perism, by the vices of her population, her wars, and so forth. It would 
be a strange order of Providence, if it were true, that he should create nec- 
essary and indispensable wants, and yet should render us unable to supply 
them without the degradation or contamination of our species. 

Pauperism is, in general, the effect of an overflowing population. Man- 
ufactures may undoubtedly produce a redundant population ; but so may 



222 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

commerce, and so may agriculture. In tins respect they are alike ; and 
from whatever cause the disproportion of a population to the subsisting 
faculty of a country may proceed, its effect on pauperism is the same. 
Many parts of Asia would exhibit, perhaps, as afflicting effects of an ex- 
treme prosecution of the agricultural system, as England can possibly 
furuish respecting the manufacturing. It is not, however, fair to argue 
from these extreme cases against either the one system or the other. 
There are abuses incident to every branch of industry, to every profession. 
It would not be thought very just or wise to arraign the honorable profes- 
sions of law and physic, because the one produces the pettifogger, and 
the other the quack. Even in England it has been established, by the 
diligent search of Colquhoun, from the most authentic evidence, the 
judicial records of the country, that the instances of crime were much 
more numerous in the agricultural than in the manufacturing districts ; 
thus proving that die cause of wretchedness and vice, in that country, was 
to be sought for, not in this or that system, so much as in the fact of the 
density of its population. France resembles this country more than En- 
gland, in respect to the employments of her population ; and we do not 
find that there is any thing in the condition of the manufacturing portion 
of it which ouafht to dissuade us from the introduction of it into our own 
country. But even France has not that great security against the abuses 
of the manufacturing system, against the effects of too great a density of 
population, which Ave possess in our waste lands. While this resource 
exists we have nothing to apprehend. Do capitalists give too low wages 
— are the laborers too crowded, and in danger of starving ? the unsettled 
lands will draw off the redundancy, and leave the others better provided 
for. If an unsettled province, such as Texas, for example, could, by some 
convulsion of nature, be wafted alongside of, and attached to the island of 
Great Britain, the instantaneous effect would be, to draw off the redundant 
portion of the population, and to render more comfortable both the emi- 
grants and those whom they would leave behind. I am aware, that while 
the public domain is an acknowledged security against the abuses of the 
manufacturing, or any other system, it constitutes, at the same time, an 
impediment, in the opinion of some, to the success of manufacturing in- 
dustry, by its tendency to prevent the reduction of the wages of labor. 
Those who urge this objection have their eyes too much fixed on the 
ancient system of manufacturing, when manual labor was the principal in- 
strument which it employed. During the last half century, since the 
inventions of Arkwright, and the long train of improvements which fol- 
lowed, the labor of machinery is principally used. I have understood, 
from sources of information which I believe to be accurate, that the com- 
bined force of all the machinery employed by Great Britain, in manufac- 
turing, is equal to the labor of one hundred millions of able-bodied men. 
If we suppose the aggregate of the labor of all the individuals which she 
employs, in that branch of industry, to be equal to the united labor of two 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 223 

millions of able-bodied men (and I should think it does not exceed it), 
machine labor will stand to manual labor in the proportion of one hundred 
to two. There can not be a doubt that we have skill and enterprise 
enough to command the requisite amount of machine power. 

There are, too, some checks to emigration from the settled parts of our 
country to the waste lands of the west. Distance is one, and it is every 
day becoming greater and greater. There exists, also a natural repug- 
nance (felt less, it is true, in the United States than elsewhere, but felt 
even here), to abandoning the place of our nativity. Women and children 
who could not migrate, and who would be comparatively idle if manufac- 
tures did not exist, may be profitably employed in them. This is a very 
great benefit. I wituessed the advantage resulting from the employment 
of this description of our population, in a visit which I lately made to the 
Waltham manufactory, near Boston. There, some hundreds of girls and 
boys were occupied in separate apartments. The greatest, order, neatness, 
and apparent comfort, reigned throughout the whole establishment. The 
daughters of respectable farmers, in one instance, I remember, the daugh- 
ter of a senator in the State Legislature, were usefully employed. They 
would come down to the manufactory, remain perhaps some months, and 
return, with their earnings, to their families, to assist them throughout the 
year, But one instance had occurred, I was informed by the intelligent 
manager, of doubtful conduct on the part of any of the females, and, after 
she was dismissed, there was reason to believe that injustice had been done 
her. Suppose that establishment to be destroyed, what would become of 
all the persons who are there engaged so beneficially to themselves, and so 
usefully to the State ? Can it be doubted that, if the crowds of little men-* 
dicant boys and girls who infest this edifice, and assail us, every day, at its 
very thresholds, as we come in and go out, begging for a cent, were em- 
ployed in some manufacturing establishment, it would be better for them, 
and the city ? Those who object to the manufacturing system should rec- 
ollect, that constant occupation is the best security for innocence and vir- 
tue, and that idleness is the parent of vice and crime. They should con- 
template the laboring poor with employment, and ask themselves what 
would be their condition without it. If there are instances of hard task- 
masters among the manafacturers, so also are there in agriculture. The 
cause is to be sought for, not in the nature of this or that system, but in 
the nature of man. If there are particular species of unhealthy employ- 
ment in manufactures, so there are in agriculture also. There has been an 
idle attempt to ridicule the manufacturing system, and we have heard the 
expression, " spinning-jenny tenure." It is one of the noblest inventions of 
human skill. It has diffused comforts among thousands who, without it, 
would never have enjoyed them ; and millions yet unborn will bless the 
man by whom it was invented. Three important inventions have distin- 
guished the last half century, each of which, if it had happened at long 
intervals of time from the other, would have been sufficient to constitute 



224 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

an epoch in the progress of the useful arts. The first was that of Ark- 
wright ; and our own country is entitled to the merit of the other two. 
The world is indebted to Whitney for the one, and to Fulton for the other. 
Nothing is secure against the shafts of ridicule. What would be thought 
of a man who should speak of a cotton-gin tenure, or a steamboat tenure ? 

In one respect there is a great difference in favor of manufactures, when 
compared with agriculture. It is the rapidity with which the whole man- 
ufacturing community avail themselves of an improvement. It is instantly 
communicated and put in operation. There is an avidity for improvement 
in the one system, an aversion to it in the other. The habits of generation 
after generation pass down the long track of time in perpetual succession 
without the slightest change in agriculture. The plowman who fastens 
his plow to the tails of his cattle, will not own that there is any other 
mode equal to his. An agricultural people will be in the neighborhood 
of other communities, who have made the greatest progress in husbandry, 
without advancing in the slightest degree. Many parts of our country are 
one hundred years in advance of Sweden in the cultivation and improve- 
ment of the soil. 

It is objected, that the effect of the encouragement of home manufacture, 
by the proposed tariff, will be, to diminish the revenue from the customs. 
The amount of the revenue from that source will depend upon the amount 
of importations, and the measure of these will be the value of the exports 
from this country. The quantity of the exportable produce will depend 
upon the foreign demand ; and there can be no doubt that, under any dis- 
tribution of the labor and capital of this country, from the greater allure- 
ments which agriculture presents than any other species of industry, there 
would be always a quantity of its produce sufficient to satisfy that demand. 
If there be a diminution in the ability of foreign nations to consume our 
raw produce, in the proportion of our diminished consumption of theirs, 
under the operation of this system, that will be compensated by the substi- 
tution of a home for a foreign market, in the same proportion. It is true 
that we can not remain in the relation of seller, only to foreign powers, for 
any length of time ; but if as I have no doubt, our agriculture will con- 
tinue to supply, as far as it can profitably, to the extent of the limits of 
foreign demand, we shall receive not only in return many of the articles on 
which the tariff operates, for our own consumption, but they may also form 
the objects of trade with South America and other powers, and our com- 
forts may be multiplied by the importation of other articles. Diminished 
consumption, in consequence of the augmentation of duties, does not nec- 
essarily imply diminished revenue. The increase of the duty may com- 
pensate the decrease in the consumption, and give you as large a revenue 
as you before possessed. 

Can any one doubt the impolicy of government resting solely upon the 
precarious resource of such a revenue ? It is constantly fluctuating. It 
tempts us, by its enormous amount, at one time, into extravagant expend- 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 225 

iture ; and we are then driven, by its sudden and unexpected depression, 
into the opposite extreme. We are seduced by its flattering promises into 
expenses which we might avoid ; and we are afterward constrained by 
its treachery, to avoid expenses which we ought to make. It is a system 
under which there is a sort of perpetual war, between the interest of the 
government and the interest of the people. Large importations fill the 
coffers of government, and empty the pockets of the people. Small im- 
portations imply prudence on the part of the people, and leave the treasury 
empty. In war, the revenue disappears ; in peace it is unsteady. On 
such a system the government will not be able much longer exclusively to 
rely. We all anticipate that we shall have shortly to resort to some ad- 
ditional supply of revenue within ourselves. I was opposed to the total 
repeal of the internal revenue. I would have preserved certain parts of 
it at least, to be ready for emergences such as now exist. And I am, for 
one, ready to exclude foreign spirits altogether, and substitute for the rev- 
enue levied on them a tax upon the spirits made within the country. 
No other nation lets in so much of foreign spirits as we do. By the en- 
couragement of home industry, you will lay a basis of internal taxation, 
when it gets strong, that will be steady and uniform yielding alike in peace 
and in war. We do not derive our ability from abroad, to pay taxes. 
That depends upon our wealth and our industry ; and it is the same, what- 
ever may be the form of levying the public contributions. 

But it is urged, that you tax other interests of the State to sustain man- 
ufacturers. The business of manufacturing, if encouraged, will be open to 
all. It is not for the sake of the particular individuals who may happen 
to be engaged in it, that we propose to foster it ; but it is for the general 
interest. We think that it is necessary to the comfort and well-being of 
society, that fabrication, as well as the business of production and distri- 
bution, should be supported and taken care of. Now, if it be even true, 
that the price of the home fabric will be somewhat higher, in the first in- 
stance, than the rival foreign articles, that consideration ought not to pre- 
vent our extending reasonable protection to the home fabric. Present 
temporary inconvenience may be well submitted to for the sake of future 
permanent benefit. If the experience of all other countries be not utterly 
fallacious ; if the promises of the manufacturing system be not absolutely 
illusory ; by the competition which will be elicited in consequence of your 
parental care, prices will be ultimately brought down to a level with that 
of the foreign commodity. Now, in a scheme of policy which is devised 
for a nation, we should not limit our views to its operation during a single 
year, or for even a short term of years. We should look at its operation 
for a considerable time, and in war as well as in peace. Can there be a 
doubt, thus contemplating it, that we shall be compensated by the certainty 
and steadiness of the supply in all seasons, and the ultimate reduction of 
the price for any temporary sacrifices we make ? Take the example of 
salt, which the ingenious gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Archer) has ad- 

15 



226 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

duced. He says, during the war, the price of that article rose to ten dol- 
lars per bushel, and he asks if you would lay a duty, permanent in its 
duration, of three dollars per bushel, to secure a supply in war. I answer, 
no, I would not lay so high a duty. That which is now proposed, for the 
encouragement of the domestic production, is only five cents per bushel. 
In forty years, the duty would amount only to two dollars. If the recur- 
rence of war shall be only after intervals of forty years' peace (and we 
may expect it probably oftener), and if, when it does come, the same price 
should again be given, there will be a clear saving of eight dollars, by pro- 
moting the domestic fabrication. All society is an affair of mutual con- 
cession. If we expect to derive the benefits which are incident to it, we 
must sustain our reasonable share of burdens. The great interests which 
it is intended to guard and cherish, must be supported by their reciprocal 
action and re-action. The harmony of its parts is disturbed, the discipline 
which is necessary to its order is incomplete, when one of the three great 
and essential branches of its industry is abandoned and unprotected. If 
you want to find an example of order, of freedom from debt, of economy, 
of expenditure falling below rather than exceeding income, you will go to 
the well-regulated family of a farmer. You will go to the house of such 
a man as Isaac Shelby ; you will not find him haunting taverns, en- 
gaged in broils, prosecuting angry lawsuits ; you will behold every mem- 
ber of his family clad with the produce of their own hands, and usefully 
employed ; the spinning-wheel and the loom in motion by day-break. 
With what pleasure will his wife carry you into her neat dairy, lead you 
into her store-house, and point you to the table-cloths, the sheets, the 
counterpanes which lie on this shelf for one daughter, or on that for an- 
other, all prepared in advance by her provident care for the day of their 
respective marriages. If you want to see an opposite example, go to the 
house of a man who manufactures nothing at home, whose family resorts 
to the store for every thing they consume. You will find him perhaps in 
the tavern, or at the shop at the cross-roads. He is engaged, with the 
rum-grog on the table, taking depositions to make out some case of usury 
or fraud. Or perhaps he is furnishing to his lawyer the materials to pre- 
pare a long bill of injunction in some intricate case. The sheriff is hover- 
ing about his farm to serve some new writ. On court-days — he never 
misses attending them — you will find him eagerly collecting his witnesses 
to defend himself against the merchant and doctor's claims. Go to his 
house, and, after a short and giddy period, that his wife and daughters have 
flirted about the country in their calico and muslin frocks, what a scene of 
discomfort and distress is presented to you there ! What the individual 
family of Isaac Shelby is, I wish to see the nation in the aggregate become. 
But I fear we shall shortly have to contemplete its resemblance in the op- 
posite picture. If statesmen would carefully observe the conduct of pri- 
vate individuals in the management of their own affairs, they would have 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 227 

much surer guides in promoting the interests of the State, than the vision- 
ary speculations of theoretical writers. 

The manufacturing system is not only injurious to agriculture, hut, say 
its opponents, it is injurious also to foreign commerce. We ought not to 
conceal from ourselves our present actual position in relation to other 
powers. During the protracted war which has so long convulsed all 
Europe, and which will prohably be succeeded by a long peace, we trans- 
acted the commercial business of other nations, and largely shared with 
England the carryiug trade of the world. Now, every other nation is 
anxiously endeavoring to transact its own business, to rebuild its marine, 
and to foster its navigation. The consequence of the former state of 
things was, that our mercantile marine, and our commercial employment 
were enormously disproportionate to the exchangeable domestic produce 
of our country. And the result of the latter will be, that, as exchanges 
between this country and other nations will hereafter consist principally, 
on our part, of our domestic produce, that marine and that employ- 
ment will be brought down to what is necessary to effect those ex- 
changes. I regret exceedingly this reduction. I wish the mercantile class 
could enjoy the same extensive commerce that they formerly did. But, 
if they can not, it would be a folly to repine at what is irrecoverably lost, 
and we should seek rather to adapt ourselves to the new circumstances in 
which we find ourselves. If, as I think, we have reached the maximum 
of our foreign demand for our three great staples, cotton, tobacco, and 
flour, no man will contend that we should go on to produce more and 
more, to be sent to the glutted foreign market, and consumed by devouring 
expenses, merely to give employment to our tonnage and to our foreign 
commerce. It would be extremely unwise to accommodate our industry 
to produce, not what is wanted abroad, but cargoes for our unemployed 
ships. I would give our foreign trade every legitimate encouragement, 
and extend it whenever it can be extended profitably. Hitherto it has 
been stimulated too highly, by the condition of the world, and our own 
policy acting on that condition. And we are reluctant to believe that we 
must submit to its necessary abridgment. The habits of trade, the tempt- 
ing instances of enormous fortunes which have been made by the success- 
ful prosecution of it, are such, that we turn with regret from its pursuit ; 
we still cherish a lingering hope ; we persuade ourselves that somethiug 
will occur, how and what it may be, we know not, to revive its former 
activity ; and we would push into every untried channel, grope through 
the Dardanelles into the Black Sea, to restore its former profits. I repeat 
it, let us proclaim to the people of the United States the incontestable 
truth, that our foreign trade must be circumscribed by the altered state of 
the world ; and, leaving it in the possession of all the gains which it can 
now possibly make, let us present motives to the capital and labor of our 
country, to employ themselves in fabrication at home. There is no danger 
that, by a withdrawal of that portion which is unprofitably employed on 



228 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

other objects, and an application of it to fabrication, our agriculture would be 
too much cramped. The produce of it will always come up to the foreign 
demand. Such are the superior allurements belonging to the cultivation 
of the soil to all other branches of industry, that it will always be preferred 
when it can profitably be followed. The foreign demand will, in any con- 
ceivable state of things, limit the amount of the exportable produce of 
agriculture. The amount of our exportations will form the measure of 
our importations, and whatever these may be, they will constitute the basis 
of the revenue derivable from customs. 

The manufacturing system is favorable to the maintenance of peace. 
Foreign commerce is the great source of foreign wars. The eagerness 
with which we contend for every branch of it, the temptations which it 
offers, operating alike upon us and our foreign competitors, produce con- 
stant collisions. No country on earth, by the extent of its superfices, the 
richness of its soil, the variety of its climate, contains within its own limits 
more abundant facilities for supplying all our rational wants than ours 
does. It is. not necessary or desirable, however, to cut oft' all intercourse 
with foreign powers. But, after securing a supply, within ourselves, of 
all the great essentials of life, there will be ample scope still left for pre- 
serving such an intercourse. If we had no intercourse with foreign states, 
if we adopted the policy of China, we should have no external wars. 
And in proportion as we diminish our dependence upon them, shall we 
lessen the danger of the recurrence of war. Our late war would not have 
existed if the counsels of the manufacturers in England had been listened 
to. They finally did prevail, in their steady and persevering effort to pro- 
duce a repeal of the orders in Council ; but it was too late to prevent the 
war. Those who attribute to the manufacturing system the burdens and 
misfortunes of that country, commit a great error. These were probably 
a joint result of the operation of the whole of her systems, and the larger 
share of it was to be ascribed to her foreign commerce, and to the ambi- 
tion of her rulers, than to any other cause. The war of our Revolution, 
in which that ambition displayed its monstrous arrogance and preten- 
sions, laid the broad foundation of that enormous debt under which she 
now groans. 
j The tendency of reasonable encouragement to our home industry is fav- 
orable to the preservation and strength of our confederacy. Now our con- 
nection is merely political. For the sale of the surplus of the produce of 
our agricultural labor, all eyes are constantly turned upon the markets of 
Liverpool. There is scarcely any of that beneficial intercourse, the best 
basis of political connection, which consists in the exchange of the pro- 
duce of our labor. On our maritime frontier there has been too much 
stimulus, an unnatural activity ; in the great interior of the country, there 
exists a perfect paralysis. Encourage fabrication at home, and there will 
instantly arise animation and a healthful circulation throughout all the parts 
of the republic. The cheapness, fertility, and quantity of our waste lands, 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 229 

offer such powerful inducements to cultivation, that our countrymen are 
constantly engaging in it. I would not check this disposition, by hard 
terms in the sale of it. Let it be easily accessible to all who wish to ac- 
quire it. But I would countervail this predilection, by presenting to cap- 
ital and labor motives for employment in other branches of industry. 
Nothino- is more uncertain than the pursuit of agriculture, when we mainly 
rely upon foreign markets for the sale of its surplus produce. In the first 
place, it is impossible to determine, a priori the amount of this surplus ; 
and, in the secoud, it is equally impossible to anticipate the extent of the 
foreign demand. Both the one and the other depend upon the seasons. 
From the fluctuations incident to these, and from other causes, it may hap- 
pen that the supplying country will, for a long series of years, have em- 
ployed a larger share of its capital and labor than is wise, in production, 
to supply the wants of the consuming countries, without becoming sensi- 
ble of its defect of policy. The failure of a crop, or the failure of a mar- 
ket, does not discourage the cultivator. He renews his labors another year, 
and he renews his hopes. It is otherwise with manufacturing industry. 
The precise quantum of its produce, at least, can with some accuracy be 
previously estimated. And the wauts of foreign countries can be with 
some probability anticipated. 

I am sensible, Mr. Chairman, if I have even had a success, which I dare 
not presume, in the endeavor I have been making to show that sound pol- 
icy requires a diversion of so much of the capital and labor of this country 
from other employments as may be necessary, by a different application of 
them, to secure, within ourselves, a steady and adequate supply of the great 
necessaries of life, I shall have only established one half of what is incum- 
bent upon me to prove. It will still be required by the other side, that a 
second proposition be supported, and that is, that government ought to 
present motives for such a diversion and new application of labor and cap- 
ital, by that species of protection which the tariff holds out. Gentlemen 
say, We agree with you ; you are right in your first proposition ; but, " let 
things alone," and they will come right in the end. Now, I agree with them, 
that things would ultimately get right ; but not until after a long period 
of disorder and distress, terminating in the impoverishment, and perhaps 
ruin, of the country. Dissolve government, reduce it to its primitive ele- 
ments, and without any general effort to reconstruct it, there would arise, 
out of the anarchy which would ensue, partial combinations for the pur- 
pose of individual protection, which would finally lead to a social form, 
competent to the conservation of peace within, and the repulsion of force 
from without. Yet no one would say, in such a state of anarchy, Let 
things alone ! If gentlemen, by their favorite maxim, mean only that, 
within the bosom of the State, things are to be left alone, and each indi- 
vidual, and each branch of industry, allowed to pursue their respective in- 
terests, without giving a preference to either, I subscribe to it. But if they 
give it a more comprehensive import ; if they require that things be left 



230 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

alone, in respect not only to interior action, but to exterior action also ; not 
only as regards the operation of our own government upon the mass of 
the interests of the State, but as it relates to the operation of foreign gov- 
ernments upon that mass, I dissent from it. 

In this maxim, in this enlarged sense, it is indeed everywhere pro- 
claimed ; but nowhere practiced. It is truth in the books of European 
political economists. It is error in the practical code of every European 
State. It is not applied where it is most applicable ; it is attempted to be 
introduced here, where it is least applicable ; and even here its friends 
propose to limit it to the single branch of manufacturing industry, while 
every other interest is encouraged and protected according to the policy of 
Europe. The maxim would best suit Europe, when each interest is ad- 
justed and arranged to every other, by causes operating during many 
centuries. Every thing there has taken and preserved its ancient position. 
The house that was built centuries ago, is occupied by the descendants of 
its original constructor. If one could rise up after the lapse of ages, and 
enter a European shop, he would see the same hammer at work, on the 
same anvil or last, and almost by the same hand. There every thing has 
found its place and level, and every thing, one would think, might there 
safely be left alone. But the policy of the European States is otherwise. 
Here every thing is naw and unfixed. Neither the State, nor the indivi- 
duals who compose it, have settled down in their permanent positions. 
There is a constant tendency, in consequence of the extent of our public 
domain, toward production for foreign markets. The maxim, in the com- 
prehensive sense in which I am considering it, requires, to entitle it to ob- 
servation, two conditions, neither of which exists. First, that there should 
be perpetual peace, and secondly, that the maxim should be everywhere 
respected. When war breaks out, that free and general circulation of the 
produce of industry among the nations which it recommends, is interrupt- 
ed, and the nation that depends upon a foreign supply for its necessaries, 
must be subjected to the greatest inconvenience. If it be not everywhere 
observed, there will be, between the nation that does not, and the nation 
that does, conform to it, an inequality alike condemned by honor and by 
interest. If there be no reciprocity ; if, on the one side, there is perfect 
freedom of trade, and on the other a code of odious restrictions, will 
gentlemen still contend that we are to submit to such an unprofitable and 
degrading intercourse ? Will they require that we shall act upon the 
social system, while every other power acts upon the selfish ? Will they 
demand of us to throw widely open our ports to every nation, while all 
other nations entirely or partly exclude theirs against our productions ? It 
is, indeed, possible, that some pecuniary advantage might be enjoyed by 
our country in prosecuting the remnant of the trade which the contracted 
policy of other powers leaves to us. But what security is there for our 
continuing to enjoy even that ? And is national honor, is national inde- 
pendence, to count as nothing ? I will not enter into a detail of the re- 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 231 

strictions with which we are everywhere presented in foreign countries. 
I will content myself with asserting that they take nothing from us which 
they can produce themselves, upon even worse terms than we could supply 
them. Take, again, as an example, the English corn-laws. America pre- 
sents the image of a fine, generous-hearted young fellow, who has just 
come to the possession of a rich estate — an estate, which, however, requires 
careful management. He makes nothing; he buys everything. He is 
surrounded by a parcel of Jews, each holding out his hand with a packet 
of buttons or pins, or some other commodity, for sale. If he asks those 
Jews to buy any thing which his estate produces, they tell him no ; it is 
not for our interest ; it is not for yours. Take this new book, says one of 
them, on political economy, and you will there perceive it is for your in- 
terest to buy from us, and to let things alone in your own country. The 
gentleman from Virginia, to whom I have already referred, has surrendered 
the whole argument, in the example of the East India trade. He thinks 
that because India takes nothing but specie from us, because there is not a 
reciprocal exchange between us and India, of our respective productions, 
that the trade ought to be discontinued. Now I do not agree with him, 
that it ought to be abandoned, though I would put it under considerable 
restrictions, when it comes in competition with the fabrics of our own 
country. If the want of entire reciprocity be a sufficient ground for the 
total abandonment of a particular branch of trade, the same principle re- 
quires that, where there are some restrictions on the other side, they 
should be countervailed by equal restrictions on the other. 

But this maxim, according to which gentlemen would have us abandon 
the home industry of the country, to the influence of the restrictive sys- 
tems of other countries, without an effort to protect and preserve it, is not 
itself observed by the same gentlemen, in regard to the great interests 
of the nation. We protect our fisheries by bounties and drawbacks. We 
protect our tonnage, by excluding or restricting foreign tonnage, exactly as 
our tonnage is excluded or restricted by foreign States. We passed, a year 
or two ago, the bill to prohibit British navigation from the West India 
colonies of that power to the United States, because onrs is shut out from 
them. The session prior to the passage of that law, the gentleman from 
South Carolina and I, almost alone, urged the House to pass it. But the 
subject was postponed until the next session, when it was passed by nearly 
a unanimous vote, the gentleman from South Carolina, and the two gentle- 
men from Virginia (Messrs. Barbour and Tyler) voting with the majority. 
We have now upon our table other bills connected with that object, and 
proposing restriction upon the French tonnage to countervail theirs upon 
ours. I shall, with pleasure, vote for these measures. We protect our 
foreign trade by consuls, by foreign ministers, by embargoes, by non-inter- 
course, by a navy, by fortifications, by squadrons constantly acting abroad, 
by war, and by a variety of commercial regulations in our statute-book. 
The whole system of the general government, from its first formation to 



232 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the present time, consists, almost exclusively, in one unremitting endeavor 
to nourish, and protect, and defend the foreign trade. Why have not all 
these great interests been left to the operation of the gentlemen's favorite 
maxim ? Sir, it is perfectly right that we should have afforded this pro- 
tection. And it is perfectly right, in my humble opinion, that we should 
extend the principle to the home industry. I am a friend to fofeign trade, 
but I protest against its being the monopolist of all the parental favor and 
care of this government. 

But, sir, friendly as I am to the existence of domestic manufactures, I 
would not give to them unreasonable encouragement, by protecting duties. 
Their growth ought to be gradual but sure. I believe all the circum- 
stances of the present period highly favorable to their success. But they 
are the youngest and the weakest interest of the State. Agriculture wants 
but little or no protection against the regulations of foreign powers. The 
advantages of our position, and the cheapness, and abundance, and fertility 
of our land, afford to that greatest interest of the State almost all the pro- 
tection it wants. As it should be, it is strong and flourishing ; or, if it 
be not, at this moment, prosperous, it is not because its produce is not 
ample, but because, depending, as we do altogether, upon a foreign maiket 
for the sale of the surplus of that produce, the foreign market is glutted. 
Our foreign trade, having almost exclusively engrossed the protecting care 
of government, wants no further legislative aid. Aud, whatever depres- 
sion it may now experience, it is attributable to causes beyond the control 
of this government. The abundance of capital, indicated by the avidity 
with which loans are sought, at the reduced rate of five per centum ; the 
reduction in the wages of labor, and the decline in the price of property 
of every kind, as well as that of agricultural produce, all concur favorably 
for domestic manufactures. Now, as when we arranged the existing tariff, 
is the auspicious moment for government to step in and cheer and counte- 
nance them. We did too little then, and I endeavored to warn this House 
of the effects of inadequate protection. We were called upon, at that 
time, by the previous pledges we had given, by the inundation of foreign 
fabrics, which was to be anticipated from their free admission after the term- 
ination of the war, and by the lasting interests of this country, to give 
them efficient support. We did not do it ; but let us not now repeat the 
error. Our great mistake has been in the irregularity of the action of the 
measures of this government upon manufacturing industry. At one period 
it is stimulated too high, and then, by an opposite course of policy, it is 
precipitated into a condition of depression too low. First there came the 
embargo; then non- intercourse, and other restrictive measures followed; 
and finally, that greatest of all stimuli to domestic fabrication, war. 
During all that long period we were adding to the positive effect of the 
measures of government, all the moral encouragement which results from 
popular resolves, legislative resolves, and other manifestations of the public 
will and the public wish to foster our home manufactures, and to render 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 233 

our confederacy independent of foreign powers. The peace ensued, and 
the country was flooded with the fabrics of other countries ; and we, for- 
getting all our promises, coolly and philosophically talk of leaving things 
to themselves — making up our deficiency of practical good sense, by the 
stores of learning which we collect from theoretical writers. I, too, some- 
times amuse myself with the visions of these writers (as I do with those 
of metaphysicians and novelists), and, if I do not forget, one of the best 
among them enjoins it upon a country to protect its industry against the 
injurious influence of the prohibitions and restrictions of foreign countries, 

which operate upon it. -— ' — --< 

Monuments of the melancholy effects upon our manufactures, and of the 
fluctuating policy of the councils of the Union in regard to them, abound 
in all parts of the country. Villages, and parts of villages, which sprang 
up but yesterday in the western country, under the excitement to which I 
have referred, have dwindled into decay, and are abandoned. In New 
England, in passing along the highway, one frequently sees large and 
spacious buildings, with the glass broken out of the windows, the shutters 
hanging in ruinous disorder, without any appearance of activity, and en- 
veloped in solitary gloom. Upon inquiring what they are, you are almost 
always informed that they were some cotton or other factory, which their 
proprietors could no longer keep in motion against the overwhelming press- 
ure of foreign competition. Gentlemen ask for facts to show the expe- 
diency and propriety of extending protection to our manufactures. Do 
they want stronger evidence than the condition of things I have pointed 
out ? They ask, why the manufacturing industry is not resumed under 
the encouraging auspices of the present time ? Sir, the answer is obvious, 
there is a general dismay ; there is a want of heart ; there is the greatest 
moral discouragement experienced throughout the nation. A man who 
engages in the manufacturing business is thought by his friends to be de- 
ranged. Who will go to the ruins of Carthage or Baalbec to rebuild a 
city there ? Let government commence a systematic but moderate support 
of this important branch of our industry ; let it announce its fixed pur- 
pose, that the protection of manufactures against the influence of the 
measures of foreign governments, will enter into the scope of our national 
policy ; let us substitute, for the irregular action of our measures, one that 
shall be steady and uniform; and hope, and animation, and activity, will 
again revive. The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Lowndes) ottered 
a resolution, which the House rejected, having for its object to ascertain 
the profits now made upon capital employed in manufacturing. It is not, 
I repeat it, the individuals, but the interests we wish to have protected. 
From the infinite variety of circumstances under which different manufac- 
turing establishments are situated, it is impossible that any information 
such as the gentleman desires, could be obtained, that ought to guide the 
judgment of this House. It may happen that, of two establishments en- 
gaged in the same species of fabrication, one will be prospering and the 



234 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

other languishing. Take the example of the Waltham manufactory near 
Boston, and that of Brunswick in Maine. The former has the advantage 
of a fine water situation, a manager of excellent information, enthusias- 
tically devoted to its success, a machinist of most inventive genius, who is 
constantly making some new improvement, and who has carried the water 
loom to a degree of perfection which it has not attained in England — to 
such perfection as to reduce the cost of weaving a yard of cloth adapted 
to shirting to less than a cent — while it is abundantly supplied with cap- 
ital by several rich capitalists in Boston. These gentlemen have the most 
extensive correspondence with all parts of the United States. Owing to 
this extraordinary combination of favorable circumstances, the Waltham 
establishment is doing pretty well ; while that of Brunswick, not possess- 
ing all of them, but perhaps as many as would enable it, under adequate 
protection, to flourish, is laboring arduously. Will gentlemen infer, from 
the success of a few institutions having peculiar advantages, which form 
exceptions to the languishing condition of manufacturing industry, that 
there exists no necessity for protection ? In the most discouraging state 
of trade and navigation, there are, no doubt, always some individuals who 
are successful in prosecuting them. Would it be fair to argue, from these 
instances, against any measure brought forward to revive their activity ? 

The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Whitman) has manifested pe- 
culiar hostility to the tariff, and has allowed himself to denominate it a 
mad, quixotic, ruinous scheme. The gentleman is dissatisfied with the quar- 
ter — the west — from which it emanates. To ffive higher tone and more 
effect to the gentleman's declamation, which is vague and indefinite, he has 
even assumed a new place in this House. Sir, I would advise the gentle- 
man to return to his ancient position, moral and physical. It was respect- 
able and useful. The honorable gentleman professes to be a friend to man- 
ufacturers ! And yet he has found an insurmountable constitutional 
impediment to their encouragement, of which, as no other gentleman has 
relied upon it, I shall leave him in the undisturbed possession. The hon- 
orable gentleman a friend to manufacturers ! And yet he has delivered a 
speech, marked with peculiar emphasis, against their protection. The hon- 
orable gentleman a friend to manufacturers ! And yet he requires, if this 
constitutional difficulty could be removed, such an arrangement of the tar- 
iff as shall please him, although every one else should be dissatisfied. The 
intimation is not new of the presumptuousness of western politicians, in 
endeavoring to give to the policy of this country such a direction as will 
assert its honor and sustain its interests. It was first made while the mea- 
sures preparatory to the late war were under consideration, and it now 
probably emanates from the same quarter. The predilection of the school 
of the Essex junto for foreign trade and British fabrics — I am far from in- 
sinuating that other gentlemen who are opposed to the tariff are actuated 
by any such spirit — is unconquerable. We disregarded the intimation when 
it was first made ; we shall be uninfluenced by it now. If, indeed, there 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 235 

were the least color for the assertion, that the foreign trade is to be crushed 
by the tariff, is it not strange, that the whole of the representation from all 
our great commercial metropolises should unite to destroy it ? The mem- 
ber from Boston — to whose rational and disinterested course I am happy, 
on this, as on many other occasions, to be able to testify — the representa- 
tives from the city of New York, from Philadelphia, from Baltimore, all 
entered into this confederacy, to destroy it, by supporting this mad and 
ruinous scheme. Some gentlemen assert that it is too comprehensive. 
But its chief recommendation to me is, that it leaves no important interest 
unprovided for. 

The same gentleman, or others, if it had been more limited, would have 
objected to its partial operation. The general measure of the protection 
which it communicates, is pronounced to be immoderate and enormous. 
Yet no one ventures to enter into a specification of the particular articles 
of which it is composed, to show that it deserves thus to be characterized. 
The article of molasses has, indeed, been selected, and held up as an in- 
stance of the alleged extravagance. The existing tariff imposes a duty of 
five cents, the proposed tariff ten cents per gallon. We tax foreign spirits 
very high, and yet we let in, with a very low duty, foreign molasses, which 
ought to be considered as rum in disguise, filling the space of so much do- 
mestic spirits. If (which I do not believe will immediately be the case, to 
any considerable extent) the manufacture of spirits from molasses, should 
somewhat decline under the new tariff, the manufacture of spirits from the 
raw material, produced at home, will be extended in the same ratio. Be- 
sides the incidental advantage of increasing our security against the effect 
of seasons of scarcity, by increasing the distillation of spirits from grain, 
there is scarcely any item in the tariff which combines so many interests 
in supporting the proposed rate of duty. The grain-growing country, the 
fruit country, and the culture of cane, would be all benefited by the duty. 
Its operation is said, however, to be injurious to a certain quarter of the 
Union. It is not to be denied, that each particular section of the country 
will feel some one or more articles of the tariff to bear hard upon it, dur- 
ing a short period ; but the compensation is to be found in the more favor- 
able operation of others. Now I am fully persuaded that, in the first 
instance, no part of the Union would share more largely than New En- 
gland, in the aggregate of the benefits resulting from the tariff. But the 
habits of economy of her people, their industry, their skill, their noble en- 
terprise, the stimulating effects of their more rigorous climate, all tend to 
insure to her the first and the richest fruits of the tariff. The middle and 
the western States will come in afterward for their portion, and all will 
participate in the advantage of internal exchanges and circulation. No 
quarter of the Union will urge with a worse grace than New England, 
objections to a measure, having for its object the advancement of the in- 
terests of the whole ; for no quarter of the Union participates more exten- 
sively in the benefits flowing from the general government. Her tonnage, 



236 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

her fisheries, her foreign trade, have been constantly objects of federal care. 
There is expended the greatest portion of the public revenue. The build- 
ing of the public ships ; their equipments ; the expenses incident to their 
remaining in port, chiefly take place there. That great drain on the 
revenue, the revolutionary pension law, inclines principally toward New 
England. I do not, however, complain of these advantages which she 
enjoys. She is probably fairly entitled to them. But gentlemen from that 
quarter may, at least, be justly reminded of them, when they complain of 
the onerous effect of one or two items of the tariff. 

Mr. Chairman, I frankly own that I feel great solicitude for the success 
of this bill. The entire independence of my country of all foreign States, 
as it respects a supply of our essential wants, has ever been with me a 
favorite object. The war of our Revolution effected our political emanci- 
pation. The last war contributed greatly toward accomplishing our com- 
mercial freedom. But our complete independence will only be consum- 
mated after the policy of this bill shall be recognized and adopted. We 
have, indeed, great difficulties to contend with — old habits, colonial usages, 
the obduracy of the colonial spirit, the enormous profits of a foreign trade, 
prosecuted under favorable circumstances, which no longer continue. I 
will not despair ; the cause, I verily believe, is the cause of the country. It 
may be posponed ; it may be frustrated for the moment, but it must 
finally prevail. Let us endeavor to acquire for the present Congress the 
merit of having laid this solid foundation of the national prosperity. If, 
as I think, fatally for the public interest, the bill shall be defeated, what 
will be the character of the account which we shall have to render to our 
constituents upon our return among them ? We shall be asked, What have 
you done to remedy the disorders of the public currency ? Why, Mr. 
Secretary of the Treasury made us a long report on that matter, containing 
much valuable information, and some very good reasoning, but, upon the 
whole, we found that subject rather above our comprehension, and we con- 
cluded that it was wisest to let it regulate itself. What have you done to 
supply the deficit in the treasury ? We thought that, although you are all 
endeavoring to get out of the banks, it was a very good time for us to go 
into them, and we have authorized a loan. You have done something 
then, certainly, on the subject of retrenchment. Here, at home, we are 
practicing the greatest economy, and our daughters, no longer able to wear 
calico gowns, are obliged to put on homespun. Why, we have saved, by 
the indefatigable exertions of a member from Tennessee (General Cocke), 
fifty thousand dollars, which were wanted for the Yellow Stone expedition. 
No, not quite so much ; for thirty thousand dollars of that sum were still 
wanted, although we stopped the expedition at the Council Bluffs. And 
we have saved another sum, which we hope will give you great satisfac- 
tion. After nearly two days' debate, and a division between the two 
Houses, we struck oft' two hundred dollars from the salary of the clerk of 
the Attorney General. What have you done to protect home industry 



ON THE PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 237 

from the effects of the contracted policy of foreign powers ? We thought 
it best, after much deliberation, to leave things alone at home, and to con- 
tinue our encouragement to foreign industry. Well, surely you have 
passed some law to reanimate and revive the hopes of the numerous 
bankrupts that have been made by the extraordinary circumstances of the 
world, and the ruinous tendency of our policy ? No ; the Senate could not 
agree on that subject, and the bankrupt bill failed ! Can we plead, sir, 
ignorance of the general distress, and of the ardent wishes of the com- 
munity for that protection of its industry which this bill proposes ? No, 
sir, almost daily, throughout the session, have we been receiving petitions 
with which our table is now loaded, humbly imploring us to extend this 
protection. Unanimous resolutions from important State Legislatures have 
called upon us to give it, and the people of whole States in mass — almost 
in mass, of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — have trans- 
mitted to us their earnest and humble petitions to encourage the home in- 
dustry. Let us not turn a deaf ear to them. Let us not disappoint their 
just expectations. Let us manifest, by the passage of this bill, that Con- 
gress does not deserve the reproaches which have been cast on it, of in- 
sensibility to the wants and sufferings of the people. 



ON SENDING A MINISTER TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, MAT 10, 1820. 

[Mr. Clay was the earliest advocate in Christendom for the 
recognition of the independence of the South American States, 
and had labored long and hard in this cause before it obtained 
favor in Congress, or with the administration. Now, however, 
in 1820, it was said that the President of the United States, 
Mr. Monroe, was running a race with Mr. Clay, to get ahead of 
him in appropriating the glory of this movement. As President 
of the United States, Mr. Monroe certainly had the advantage, 
inasmuch as a favorable disposition in him toward a recogni- 
tion of the independence of those States, might seem to have 
a greater official consequence. Nevertheless, Mr. Clay's early 
zeal in this cause, and his persistency, had made too deep an 
impression on the public mind of the world to admit of a rival. 
It is also a remarkable fact, that Mr. Canning, the British prime 
minister, claimed to have called a new w T orld into existence, in 
having moved the Cabinet of George the Fourth to recognize 
the independence of Mexico, Colombia, and Buenos Ayrcs, in 
1824. But Mr. Clay had achieved this, through the American 
Congress, in ] S22. And thus Mr. Canning came into the race in 
company with Mr. Monroe ; but both of them were too late for 
the honor so modestly claimed. The South American patriots 
had recognized Mr. Clay's early advocacy of their cause, had 
voted him thanks, had translated his speeches and circulated 
them, had erected monuments to his honor, and celebrated his 
name in patriotic songs. It was sirnply absurd for Mr. Monroe, 
or Mr. Canning, or any body else, to attempt to rob Mr. Clay of 
the fame acquired by his early and disinterested advocacy of 
South American independence. All the world knows that he 
was the pioneer in this philanthropic enterprise. Mr. Clay's 
resolution was carried by a vote of eighty to seventy-five, which 
was the first majority obtained in Congress for this object. 



ON SENDING A MINISTER TO SOUTH AMERICA. 239 

There is one remarkable passage in this speech of Mr. Clay, 
which, if it had been uttered by him twenty years later, would 
have stamped him at the South as an Abolitionist " of the 
straitest sect." It is this: "Will gentlemen contend," said 
Mr. Clay, " because these people (the South Americans) are not 
like us in all particulars, they are therefore unfit for freedom ? 
In some particulars, he ventured to say that the people of South 
America were in advance of us. On the point which had been 
so much discussed on this floor, during the present session, they 
were greatly in advance of us : Granada, Venezuela, and Bu- 
enos Ayrcs, had all emancipated their slaves." 

The House being in committee of the whole, on the state of the Union, 
and a motion being made to that etfect, the committee resolved to proceed 
to the consideration of the following resolutions : 

Resolved, That it is expedient to provide by law a suitable outfit and 
salary for such minister or ministers as the president, by and with the ad- 
vice and consent of the Senate, may send to any of the governments of 
South America, which have established, and are maintaining, their inde- 
pendence of Spain : 

Resolved, That provision ought to be made for requesting the President 
of the United States to cause to be presented to the general, the most 
worthy and distinguished, in his opinion, in the service of any of the inde- 
pendent governments of South America, the sword which was given by 
the viceroy of Lima to Captain Biddle of the Ontario, during her late 
cruise in the Pacific, and which is now in the office of the Department of 
State, with the expression of the wish of the Congress of the United States, 
that it may be employed in the support and preservation of the liberties 
and independence of his country. 

"When Mr. Clay arose and said : It is my intention, Mr. Chairman, to 
withdraw the latter resolution. Since I offered it, this House (by the pas- 
sage of the bill to prevent, under suitable penalties, in future, the acceptance 
of presents, forbidden by the Constitution, to prohibit the carrying of 
foreigners in the public vessels, and to limit to the case of our own citizens, 
and to regulate in that case, the transportation of money in them), has, 
perhaps, sufficiently animadverted on the violation of the Constitution, 
which produced that resolution. I confess, that when I heard of Captain 
Biddle receiving from the deputy of a king the sword in question, I felt 
greatly mortified. I could not help contrasting his conduct with that of the 
surgeon on board an American man-of-war, in the bay of Naples (I regret that 
I do not recollect his name, as I should like to record, with the testimony 
which I with pleasure bear to his high-minded conduct), who, having per- 
formed an operation on one of the suite of the Emperor of Austria, and 
being offered fifteen hundred pistoles or dollars for his skillful service, re- 



240 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

turned the purse, and said, that what he had done was the cause of hu- 
manity, and that the Constitution of his country forbade his acceptance of 
the proffered boon. There was not an American heart that did not swell 
with pride on hearing of his noble disinterestedness. It did appear to 
me, also, that the time of Captain Biddle's interposition was unfortunate 
to produce an agreement between the viceroy of Lima and Chili, to ex- 
change their respective prisoners, however desirable the accomplishment 
of such a humane object might be. The viceroy had constantly refused 
to consent to any such exchange. And it is an incontestable fact, that the 
barbarities which have characterized the civil war in Spanish America have 
uniformly originated with the royalists. After the memorable battle of 
Maipu, decisive of the independence of Chili, and fatal to the arms of the 
viceroy, this interposition, if I am not mistaken, took place. The trans- 
portation of money, upon freight, from the port of Callao to that of Rio 
Janeiro, for royalists, appeared to me also highly improper. If we wish 
to preserve, unsullied, the illustrious character, which our navy justly sus- 
tains, we should repress the very first instances of irregularity. But I am 
willing to believe that Captain Biddle's conduct has been inadvertent. He 
is a gallant officer, and belongs to a respectable and patriotic family. His 
errors, I am persuaded, will not be repeated by him or imitated by others. 
And I trust that there is no man more unwilling than I am, unnecessarily 
to press reprehension. It is thought, moreover, by some, that the president 
might feel an embarrassment in executing the duty required of him by the 
resolution, which it was far from my purpose to cause him. I withdraw it. 

There is no connection intended, or in fact, between that resolution and 
the one I now propose briefly to discuss. The proposition, to recognize 
the independent governments of South America, offers a subject of as 
great importance as any which could claim the deliberate consideration of 
this House. 

Mr. Clay then went on to say, that it appeared to him the object of this 
government, heretofore, had been, so to manage its affairs, in regard to 
South America, as to produce an effect on its existing negotiations with 
the parent country. The House were now apprised, by the message from 
the president, that this policy had totally failed ; it had failed, because our 
country would not dishonor itself by surrendering one of the most im- 
portant rights incidental to sovereignty. Although we had observed a 
course toward the patriots, as Mr. Gallatin said, in his communication read 
yesterday, greatly exceeding in rigor the course pursued toward them either 
by France or England ; although, also, as was remarked by the Secretary of 
State, we had observed a neutrality so strict that blood had been spilt in 
enforcing it ; still, Spanish honor was not satisfied, and fresh sacrifices were 
demanded of us. If they were not resisted in form, they were substan- 
tially yielded by our course as to South America. We will not stipulate 
with Spain not to recognize the independence of the south ; but we never- 
theless grant her all she demands. 



ON SENDING A MINISTER TO SOUTH AMERICA. 241 

Mr. Clay said, it had been his intention to have gone into a general 
view of the course of policy which has characterized the general govern- 
ment ; but on account of the lateness of the session, and the desire for an 
early adjournment, he should waive, for that purpose, and, in the observa- 
tions he had to make, confine himself pretty much to events subsequent 
to the period at which he had submitted to the House a proposition having 
nearly the same object as this. 

After the return of our commissioners from South America ; after they 
had all agreed in attesting the fact of independent sovereignty being ex- 
ercised by the government of Buenos Ay res ; the whole nation looked 
forward to the recognition of the independence of that country, as the 
policy which the government ought to pursue. He appealed to every 
member to say, whether there was not a general opinion, in case the report 
of that mission should turn out as it did, that the recognition of the inde- 
pendence of that government would follow, as a matter of course. The 
surprise at a different course being pursued by the executive at the last 
session, was proportionably great. On this subject, so strong was the mes- 
sage of the president at the commencement of the present session, that 
some of the presses took it for granted, that the recognition would follow 
of course, and a paper in this neighborhood has said that there was, in re- 
gard to that question, a race of popularity between the President of the 
United States and the humble individual who now addresses the House. 
Yet, faithless Ferdinand refuses to ratify his own treaty, on the pretext 
of violations of our neutrality ; but in fact, because we will not basely sur- 
render an important attribute of sovereignty. Two years ago, he said, 
would, in his opinion, have been the proper time for recognizing the inde- 
pendence of the South. Then the struggle was somewhat doubtful, and a 
kind office on the part of this government would have had a salutary 
effect. Since that period, what had occurred ? Any thing to prevent a 
recognition of their independence, or to make it less expedient ? No ; 
every occurrence tended to prove the capacity of that country to maintain 
its independence. He then successively adverted to the battles of Maipu, 
and Bojaca, their great brilliancy, and their important consequences. 
Adverting to the union of Venezuela and New Granada in one republic, 
he said, one of the first acts was, to appoint one of their most distinguished 
citizens, the vice president Zea, a minister to this country. There was a 
time, he said, when impressions are made on individuals and nations, by 
kindness toward them, which lasts forever, when they are surrounded 
with enemies, and embarrassments present themselves. Ages and ages 
may pass away, said he, before we forget the help we received in our day 
of peril, from the hands of France. Her injustice, the tyranny of her des- 
pot, may alienate us for a time ; but, the moment it ceases, we relapse 
into a good feeling toward her. Do you mean to wait, said he, until 
these republics are recognized by the whole world, and then step in and 
extend your hand to them, when it can no longer be withheld ? If we are 

16 



242 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

to believe General Vives, we have gone auout among foreign powers, and 
consulted with Lord Castlereagh and Count Nesselrode, to seek some aid 
In recognizing the independence of these powers. What ! after the pres- 
ident has told us that the recognition of the independence* of nations is 
an incontestable right of sovereignty, shall we lag behind till the European 
powers think proper to advance ? The president has assigned, as a reason 
for abstaining from the recognition, that the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle 
might take offense at it. So far from such an usurped interference being a 
reason for stopping, he would have exerted the right the sooner for it. 
But the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle had refused to interfere, and on that 
point the president was mistaken. Spain, it was true, had gone about beg- 
ging the nations of Europe not to interfere in behalf of the South Amer- 
icans ; but the wishes of the whole unbiassed world must be in their favor. 
And while wo had gone on, passing neutrality bill after neutrality bill, and 
bills to punish piracy — with respect to unquestioned piracy, no one was 
more in favor of punishing it than he ; but he had no idea of imputing 
piracy to men fighting under the flag of a people at war for independence 
— while he pursued this course, even in advance of the legitimates of 
Europe, what, he asked, had been the course of England herself on this 
head ? Here he quoted a few passages from the work of Abbe de Pradt, 
recently translated b) T one of our citizens, which he said, though the author 
was not very popular among crowned heads, no man could read without be- 
ing enlightened and instructed. These passages dwell on the importance 
of the commerce of South America, when freed from its present restraints, 
and so forth. What would I give, exclaimed he, could we appreciate the 
advantages, which may be realized by pursuing the course which I propose ! 
It is in our power to create a system of which we shall be the center and in 
which all South America will act with us. In respect to commerce, we 
shall be most benefited ; this country would become the place of deposit of 
the commerce of the world. Our citizens engaged in foreign trade at pres- 
ent were disheartened by the condition of that trade ; they must take new 
channels for it, and none so advantageous could be found, as those which 
the trade with South America would afford. Mr. Clay took a prospective 
view of the growth of wealth, and increase of population of this country 
and South America. That country had now a population of upwaad of 
eighteen millions. The same activity in the principle of population would 
exist in that country as here. Twenty-five years hence it might be esti- 
mated at thirty-six millions ; fifty years hence, at seventy-two millions. 
We now have a population of ten millions. From the character of our 
population, we must always take the lead in the prosecution of commerce 
and manufactures. Imagine the vast power of the two countries, and the 
value of the intercourse between them, when we shall have a population of 
forty millions, and they of seventy millions ! In relation to South America, 
the people of the United States will occupy the same position as the people 
of New England do to the rest of the United States. Our enterprise, in- 



ON SENDING A MINISTER TO SOUTH AMERICA. 243 

dustry, and habits of economy, will give us the advantage in any competi- 
tion which South America may sustain with us, and so forth. 

But, however important our early recognition of the independence of 
the South might be to us, as respects our commercial and manufacturing 
interests, was there not another view of the subject, infinitely more grati- 
fying ? We should become the center of a system wbich would constitute 
the rallying-point of human freedom against all the despotism of the old 
world. Did any man doubt the feelings of the South toward us? In 
spite of our coldness toward them, of the rigor of our laws, and the con- 
duct of our officers, tbeir hearts still turned toward us, as to their brethren ; 
and he had no earthly doubt, if our government would take the lead and 
recognize them, they would become yet more anxious to imitate our insti- 
tutions, and to secure to themselves and to their posterity the same freedom 
which we enjoy. 

On a subject of this sort, he asked, was it possible we could be content to 
remain, as we now were, looking anxiously to Europe, watching the eyes 
of Lord Castlereagh, and getting scraps of letters doubtfully indicative of 
his wishes ; and sending to the Czar of Russia and getting another scrap 
from Count Nesselrode ? Why not proceed to act on our own responsibil- 
ity, and recognize these governments as independent, instead of taking the 
lead of the holy alliance in a course which jeopardizes the happiness of un- 
born millions. He deprecated this deference for foreign powers. If Lord 
Castlereagh says we may recognize, we do ; if not, we do not. A single ex" 
pression of the British minister to the present Secretary of State, then our 
minister abroad, he was ashamed to say, had molded the policy of our 
government toward South America. Our institutions now make us free ; 
but how long shall we continue so, if we mold our opinions on those of 
Europe ? Let us break these commercial and political fetters ; let us no 
longer watch the nod of any European politician ; let us become real and 
true Americans, and place ourselves at the head of the American system. 

Gentleman all said, they were all anxious to see the independence of the 
South established. If sympathy for them was enough, the patriots would 
have reason to be satisfied with the abundant expressions of it. But some- 
thing more was wanting. Some gentlemen had intimated, that the people 
of the South were unfit for freedom. Will gentlemen contend, said Mr. 
Clay, because those people are not like us in all particulars, they are there- 
fore unfit for freedom ? In some particulars, he ventured to say, that the 
people of South America were in advance of us. On the point which had 
been so much discussed on this floor, during the present session, they were 
greatly in advance of us. Granada, Venezeula, and Buenos Ayres, had all 
emancipated their slaves. He did not say that we ought to do so, or that 
they ought to have done so, under different circumstances ; but he rejoiced 
that the circumstances were such as to permit them to do it. 

Two questions only, he argued, were necessarily preliminary to the rec- 
ognition of the independence of the people of the South ; first, as to the 



244 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

fact of their independence ; and, secondly, as to the capacity for self-gov- 
ernment. On the first point, not a doubt existed. On the second, there 
was every evidence in their favor. They had fostered schools with great 
care, there were more newspapers in the single town of Buenos Ayres (at 
the time he was speaking) than in the whole kingdom of Spain. He never 
saw a question discussed with more ability than that in a newspaper of Buenos 
Ayres, whether a federative or consolidated form of government was best. 

But, though every argument in favor of the recognition should be ad- 
mitted to be just, it would be said, that another revolution had occurred in 
Spair and we ought, therefore, to delay. On the contrary, said he, every 
consideration recommended us to act now. If Spain succeeded in establish- 
ing her freedom, the colonies must also be free. The first desire of a gov- 
ernment itself free, must be to give liberty to its dependences. On the 
other hand, if Spain should not succeed in gaining her freedom, no man 
can doubt that Spain, in her reduced state, would no longer have power to 
carry on the contest. So many millions of men could not be subjugated 
by the enervated arm and exhausted means of aged Spain. In ten years 
of war, the most unimportant province of South America had not been 
subdued by all the wealth and the resources of Spain. The certainty of 
the successful resistance of the attempts of Spain to reduce them, would be 
found in the great extent of the provinces of South America — of larger 
extent than all the empire of Russia. The relation of the colonies and 
mother country, could not exist, from the nature of things, under what- 
ever aspect the government of Spain might assume. The condition of 
Spain was no reason for neglecting now to do what we ought to have done 
long ago. Every thing, on the contrary, tended to prove that this, this was 
the accepted time. 

With regard to the form of his proposition, all he wanted was, to obtain 
an expression of the opinion of the House on this subject ; and whether a 
minister should be authorized to one or the other of these governments, or 
whether he should be of one grade or of another, he cared not. This re- 
public, with the exception of the people of South America, constituted the 
sole depository of political and religious freedom ; and can it be possible, 
said he, that we can remain passive spectators of the struggle of those 
people to break the same chains which once bound us ? The opinion of 
the friends of freedom in Europe is, that our policy has been cold, heartless, 
and indifferent, toward the greatest cause which could possibly engage our 
affections and enlist our feelings in its behalf. 

Mr. Clay concluded by saying that, whatever might be the decision of 
this House on this question, proposing shortly to go into retirement from 
public life, he should there have the consolation of knowing that he had 
used his best exertions in favor of a people inhabiting a territory calculated 
to contain as many souls as the whole of Christendom besides, whose hap- 
piness was at stake, and which it was in the power of this government to 
do so much toward securing. 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 20, 1824. 

[American citizens, who have lived a quarter of a century 
since they were old enough to observe the public affairs of the 
world, will even now (1856) vividly remember the exciting in- 
terest of the Greek Ee volution, the barbarous atrocities of the 
Turks in attempting to suppress it, and the sympathy of all 
Christendom for the Greeks, while fighting for independence. 
It was the Cross against the Crescent, Christianity against 
Mohammedism. The Greeks being nominally Christians, all 
Christian nations naturally sympathized with them, more espe- 
cially on account of the inhumanities practiced by the Turks on 
the Greeks, when the latter fell into the power of the former. 
The rules of civilized warfare were utterly disregarded by the 
Turks, and savage butchery followed in the train of their vic- 
tories. 

The President of the United States, Mr. Monroe, had noticed 
this struggle in his annual message, and expressed a sympathy 
for the Greeks, which met with a universal and approving re- 
sponse from the American people. Mr. Webster, then a member 
of the House of Representatives, introduced the following reso- 
lution : 

" That provision ought to be made by law for defraying the 
expense incident to the appointment of an agent or commis- 
sioner to Greece, whenever the president shall deem it expedient 
to make such an appointment." 

Upon which he (Mr. Webster) made an able and eloquent 
speech, which was followed by a speech from Mr. Clay, of which 
the following is a copy. It hardly need be said that Mr. Clay's 
sympathies for the South American States, in their struggle for 
independence, would naturally respond to the Greek Revolution. 
He seconded most earnestly and vigorously the motion of Mr. 
Webster, and declared, that if this were Federalism — as had 
been charged, because it came from Mr. Webster — then he (Mr. 



246 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Clay) was a Federalist, and that lie would quit the Republican 
ranks if he could find no sympathy there for such a cause as 
suffering Greece presented. The Holy Alliance had set itself 
up as the guardian of European affairs, and of Greece in her 
present struggle ; and it had been suggested in this debate, on 
the floor of the House, that for Republican America to express 
her feelings in view of this spectacle, would be displeasing to 
that tribunal. That was another reason why Mr. Clay would 
urge the independent and sympathetic action of the government 
of the United States. He would never be deterred by such a 
plea in terror em over the feelings of the American heart. We 
had first and alone recognized the independence of the South 
American States ; and if there were any good reasons for that, 
the reasons were much stronger to express our sympathy with 
the Greeks. Although this motion of Mr. Webster, so ably 
supported by himself and Mr. Clay, failed to obtain a vote of 
the House of Representatives, the instructions of our govern- 
ment to Commodore Rogers, in the Mediterranean, were doubt- 
less influenced by this debate, as appears by the following ex- 
tract from a letter of General Lafayette to Mr. Clay, dated 
La Grange, Nov. 25, 1825 : " The rumor of very peculiar acts 
of benevolence from the American squadron and Commodore 
Rogers in behalf of the Greeks, which has produced no party 
complaint that I know of, has, in the enlightened and liberal 
part of the world, added to the popularity and dignity of the 
American name." This incidental and indirect evidence verifies 
the argument of Mr. Clay, that nothing could be lost, and much 
might be gained, by our showing favor to the cause of the Greek 
Revolution.] 

In rising, let me state distinctly the substance of the original proposi- 
tion of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Webster), with that of the 
amendment of the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Poinsett). The 
resolution proposes a provision of the means to defray the expense of de- 
puting a commissioner or agent to Greece, whenever the president, who 
knows, or ought to know, the disposition of all the European powers, 
Turkish or Christian, shall deem it proper. The amendment goes to with- 
hold any appropriation to that object, but to mate a public declaration of 
our sympathy with the Greeks, and of our good wishes for the success of 
their cause. And how has this simple, unpretending, unambitious, this 
harmless proposition, been treated in debate ? It has been argued as if it 
offered aid to the Greeks ; as if it proposed the recognition of the inde- 
pendence of their government; as a measure of unjustifiable interference 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 247 

in the internal affairs of a foreign State, and, finally, as war. And they 
who thus argue the question, while they absolutely surrender themselves 
to the illusions of their own fervid imaginations, and depict, in glowing 
terms, the monstrous and alarming consequences which are to spring out 
of a proposition so simple, impute to us, who are its humble advocates, 
quixotism, quixotism ! While they are taking the most extravagant and 
boundless range, and arguing any thing and every thing btit the question 
before the committee, they accuse, us of enthusiasm, of giving the reins to 
excited feeling, of being transported by our imaginations. No, sir, the 
resolution is no proposition for aid, nor for recognition, nor for interference, 
nor for war. 

I know that there are some who object to the resolution on account of 
the source from which it has sprung — who except to its mover, as if its 
value or importance were to be estimated by personal considerations. I 
have long had the pleasure of knowing the honorable gentleman from 
Massachusetts, and sometimes that of acting with him ; and I have much 
satisfaction in expressing my high admiration of his great talents. But I 
would appeal to my republican friends, those faithful sentinels of civil lib- 
erty with whom I have ever acted, shall we reject a proposition, consonant 
to our principles, favoring the good and great cause, on account of the polit- 
ical character of its mover ? Shall we not rather look to the intrinsic 
merits of the measure, and seek every fit occasion to strengthen and per- 
petuate liberal principles and noble sentiments ? If it were possible for re- 
publicans to cease to be champions of human freedom, and if federalists 
become its only supporters, I would cease to be a republican ; I would be- 
come a federalist. The preservation of the public confidence can only be 
secured, or merited, by a faithful adherence to the principles by which it 
has been acquired. 

Mr. Chairman, is it not extraordinary that for these two successive years 
the president of the United States should have been freely indulged, not 
only without censure, but with universal applause, to express the feelings 
which both the resolution and the amendment proclaim, and yet, if this 
House venture to unite with him, the most awful consequences are to en- 
sue ? From Maine to Georgia, from the Atlantic ocean to the Gulf of 
Mexico, the sentiment of approbation has blazed with the rapidity of elec- 
tricity. Everywhere the interest in the Grecian cause is felt with the 
deepest intensity, expressed in every form, and increases with every new 
day and passing hour. And are the representatives of the people alone to 
be insulated from the common moral atmosphere of the whole land? 
Shall we shut ourselves up in apathy, and separate ourselves from our 
country, from our constituents, from our chief magistrate, from our prin- 
ciples ? 

The measure has been most unreasonably magnified. Gentlemen speak 
of the watchful jealousy of the Turk, and seem to think the slightest 
movement of this body will be matter of serious speculation at Constanti- 



248 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY 

nople. I believe that neither the sublime porte, nor the European allies, 
attach any such exaggerated importance to the acts and deliberations of this 
body. The Turk will, in all probability, never hear of the names of the 
gentlemen who either espouse or oppose the resolution. It certainly is 
not Avithout a value ; but that value is altogether moral ; it throws our 
little tribute into the vast stream of public opinion, which sooner or later 
must regulate the physical action upon the great interests of the civil- 
ized world. But, rely upon it, the Ottoman is not about to declare war 
against us because this unoffending proposition has been offered by my 
honorable friend from Massachusetts, whose name, however distinguished 
and eminent he may be in our own country, has probably never reached 
the ears of the sublime porte. The allied powers are not going to be 
thrown into a state of consternation, because we appropriate some two or 
three thousand dollars to send an agent to Greece. 

The question has been argued as if the Greeks would be exposed to 
still more shocking enormities by its passage ; as if the Turkish cimeter 
would be rendered still keener, and dyed deeper and yet deeper in Chris- 
tian blood. Sir, if such is to be the effect of the declaration of our sym- 
pathy, the evil has been already produced. That declaration has been 
already publicly and solemnly made by the chief magistrate of the United 
States, in two distinct messages. It is this document which commands, at 
home and abroad, the most fixed and universal attention ; which is trans- 
lated into all the foreign journals ; read by sovereigns and their ministers ; 
and, possibly, in the Divan itself. But our resolutions are domestic, for 
home consumption, and rarely, if ever, meet imperial or royal eyes. The 
president, in his messages, after a most touching representation of the feel- 
ings excited by the Greek insurrection, tells you that the dominion of the 
Turk is gone forever ; and that the most sanguine hope is entertained that 
Greece will achieve her independence. Well, sir, if this be the fact, if the al- 
lied powers themselves may, possibly, before we again assemble in this hall, 
acknowledge that independence, is it not fit and becoming in this House to 
make provision that our president shall be among the foremost, or at least 
not amono- the last, in that acknowledgment 1 So far from this resolu- 
tion being likely to whet the vengeance of the Turk against his Grecian 
victims, I believe its tendency will be directly the reverse. Sir, with all his 
unlimited power, and in all the elevation of his despotic throne, he is at 
last but a mau, made as we are, of flesh, of muscle, of bone and sinew. He 
is susceptible of pain, and can feel, and has felt the uncalculating valor of 
American freemen in some of his dominions. And when he is made to 
understand that the executive of this government is sustained by the rep- 
resentatives of the people ; that our entire political fabric, base, column, 
and entablature, rulers and people, with heart, soul, mind and strength, are 
all on the side of the gallant people whom he would crush, he will be 
more likely to restrain than to increase his atrocities upon suffering and 
bleeding Greece. 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 249 

The gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bartlett) has made, on this 
occasion, a very ingenious, sensible, and ironical speech — an admirable de- 
but for a new member, and such as I hope we shall often have repeated on 
this floor. But permit me to advise my young friend to remember the 
maxim, " that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof ;" and when the 
resolution,* on another subject, which I had the honor to submit, shall 
come up to be discussed, I hope he will not content himself with saying, as 
he has now done, that it is a very extraordinary one ; but that he will then 
favor the House with an argumentative speech, proving that it is our duty 
quietly to see laid prostrate every fortress of human hope, and to behold, 
with indifference, the last outwork of liberty taken and destroyed. 

It has been said that the proposed measure will be a departure from our 
uniform policy with respect to foreign nations ; that it will provoke the 
wrath of the holy alliance ; and that it will, in effect, be a repetition of their 
own offense, by an unjustifiable interposition in the domestic concerns of 
other powers. No, sir, not even if it authorized, which it does not, an 
immediate recognition of Grecian independence. What has been the set- 
tled and steady policy and practice of this government, from the days of 
Washington to the present moment ? In the case of France, the father of 
his country and his successors received Genet, Fouchet, and all the French 
ministers who followed them, whether sent from king, convention, anarchy, 
emperor, or king again. The rule we have ever followed has been this : 
to look at the state of the fact, and to recognize that government, be it 
what it might, which was in actual possession of sovereign power. When 
one government is overthrown, and another is established on its ruins, with- 
out embarrasssing ourselves with any of the principles involved in the con- 
test, we have ever acknowledged the new and actual government as soon as 
it had undisputed existence. Our simple inquiry has been, is there a gov- 
ernment de facto ? We have had a recent and memorable example. 
When the allied ministers retired from Madrid, and refused to accompany 
Ferdinand to Cadiz, ours remained, and we sent out a new minister, who 
sought at that port to present himself to the constitutional king. Why \ 
Because it was the government of Spain, in fact. Did the allies declare war 
against us for the exercise of this incontestable attribute of sovereignty \ 
Did they even transmit any diplomatic note complaining of our conduct ? 
The line of our European policy has been so plainly described that it is 
impossible to mistake it. We are to abstain from all interference in their 
disputes, to take no part in their contests, to make no entangling alliances 
with any of them ; but to assert and exercise our indisputable right of 
opening and maintaining diplomatic intercourse with any actual sov- 
ereignty. 

There is reason to apprehend that a tremendous storm is ready to 

* Mr. Clay's resolution, that the people of the United States would not regard 
with indifference any interference of the holy alliance against the independence of 
South America. 



250 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

burst upon our nappy country — one which may call into action all our 
vigor, courage, and resources. Is it wise or prudent, in preparing to breast 
the storm, if it must come, to talk to this nation of its incompetency to 
repel European aggression — to lower its spirit, to weaken its moral energy, 
and to quality it for easy conquest and base submission ? If there be any 
reality in the dangers which are supposed to encompass us, should we not 
animate the people, and adjure them to believe, as I do, that our resources 
are ample ; and that we can bring into the field a million of freemen, ready 
to exhaust their last drop of blood, and to spend the last cent in the de- 
fense of the country, its liberty, and its institutions ? Sir, are these, if 
united, to be conquered by all Europe combined ? All the perils to which 
we can possibly be exposed are much less in reality than the imagination 
is disposed to paint them. And they are best averted by a habitual con- 
templation of them, by reducing them to their true dimensions. If com- 
bined Europe is to precipitate itself upon us, we can not too soon begin to 
invigorate our strength, to teach our heads to think, our hearts to conceive, 
and our arms to execute the high and noble deeds which belong to the 
character and glory of our country. The experience of the world instructs 
us, that conquests are already achieved which are boldly and firmly re- 
solved on ; and that men only become slaves who have ceased to resolve to 
be free. If we wish to cover ourselves with the best of all armor, let us 
not discourage our people, let us stimulate their ardor, let us sustain their 
resolution, let us proclaim to them that w T e feel as they feel, and that, with 
them, we are determined to live or die like freemen. 

Surely, sir, we need no long or learned lectures about the nature of gov- 
ernment, and the influence of property or ranks on society. We may con- 
tent ourselves with studying the true character of our own people, and 
with knowing that the interests are confided to us of a nation capable of 
doing and suffering all things for its liberty. Such a nation, if its rulers 
be faithful, must be invincible. I well remember an observation made to 
me by the most illustrious female of the age, if not of her sex, Madame 
de Stael. All history showed, she said, that a nation was never conquered. 
No, sir, no united nation, that resolves to be free, can be conquered. Aud 
has it come to this ? Are we so humbled, so low, so debased, that we dare 
not express our sympathy for suffering Greece ; that we dare not articu- 
late our detestation of the brutal excesses of which she has been the 
bleeding victim, lest we might offend some one or more of their imperial 
and royal majesties? If gentlemen are afraid to act rashly on such a sub- 
ject, suppose, Mr. Chairman, that we unite in an humble petition, ad- 
dressed to their majesties, beseeching them, that of their gracious con- 
descension, they would allow us to express our feelings and our sympathies. 
How shall it run ? " We, the representatives of the free people of the 
United States of America, humbly approach the thrones of your im- 
perial and royal majesties, and supplicate that, of your imperial and roy- 
al clemency — " I can not go through the disgusting recital ; my lips 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 251 

have not yet learned to pronounce the sycophantic language of a degraded 
slave ! Are we so mean, so base, so despicable, that we may not attempt 
to express our horror, utter our indignation, at the most brutal and atro- 
cious war that ever stained earth or shocked high heaven ? at the ferocious 
deeds of a savage and infuriated soldiery, stimulated and urged on by the 
clergy of a fanatical and inimical religion, and rioting in all the excesses of 
blood and butchery, at the mere details of which the heart sickens and re- 
coils ? 

If the great body of Christendom can look on calmly and coolly, while 
all this is perpetrated on a Christian people, in its own immediate vicinity? 
in its very presence, let us at least evince, that one of its remote extrem- 
ities is susceptible of sensibility to Christian wrongs, and capable of sym- 
pathy for Christian sufferings ; that in this remote quarter of the world 
there are hearts not yet closed against compassion for human woes, that 
can pour out their indignant feelings at the oppression of a people endeared 
to us by every ancient recollection, and every modern tie. Sir, attempts 
have been made to alarm the committee by the dangers to our commerce 
in the Mediterranean ; and a wretched invoice of figs and opium has been 
spread before us to repress our sensibilities and to eradicate our humanity. 
Ah ! sir, " what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose 
his own soul ?" or what shall it avail a nation to save the whole of a miser- 
able trade, and lose its liberties ? 

On the subject of the other independent American States, hitherto it has 
not been necessary to depart from the rule of our foreign relations, ob- 
served in regard to Europe. Whether it will become us to do so or not, 
will be considered when we take up another resolution, lying on the table. 
But we may not only adopt this measure : we may go further ; we may 
recognize the government in the Morea, if actually independent, and it 
will be neither war, nor cause of war, nor any violation of our neutrality. 
Beside, sir, what is Greece to the allies ? A part of the dominions of any 
of them ? By no means. Suppose the people in one of the Philippine 
Isles, or any other spot still more insulated and remote, in Asia or Africa, 
were to resist their former rulers, and set up and establish a new gov- 
ernment, are we not to recognize them, in dread of the holy allies ? If 
they are going to interfere, from the danger of the contagion of the ex- 
ample, here is the spot, our own favored land, where they must strike. 
This government, you, Mr. Chairman, and the body over which you pre- 
side, are the living and cutting reproach to allied despotism. If we are 
to offend them, it is not by passing this resolution. We are daily and 
hourly giving them cause of war. It is here, and in our free institutions, 
that they will assail us. They will attack us because you sit beneath that 
canopy, and we are freely debating and deliberating upon the great in- 
terests of freemen, and dispensing the blessings of free government. 
They will strike, because we pass one of those bills on your table. The 
passage of the least of them, by our free authority, is more galling to 



252 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

despotic powers, than would be the adoption of this so much dreaded 
resolution. Pass it, and what do you do ? You exercise an indisputable 
attribute of sovereignty, for which you are responsible to none of them. 
You do the same when you perform any other legislative function ; no 
less. If the allies object to this measure, let them forbid us to take a 
vote in this House; let them strip us of every attribute of independent 
government ; let them disperse us. 

Will gentlemen attempt to maintain that, on the principles of the law 
of nations, those allies would have cause of war ? If there be any prin- 
ciple which has been settled for ages, any which is founded in the very 
nature of things, it is that every independent state has the clear right to 
judge of the fact of the existence of other sovereign powers. I admit 
that there may be a state of inchoate initiative sovereignity, in which a 
new government, just struggling into being, can not be said yet perfectly 
to exist. But the premature recognition of such new government can 
give offense justly to no other than its ancient sovereign. The right of 
recognition comprehends the right to be informed ; and the means of in- 
formation must, of necessity, depend upon the sound discretion of the 
party seeking it. You may send out a commission of inquiry, and charge 
it with a provident attention to your own people and your own interests. 
Such will be the character of the proposed agency. It will not necessarily 
follow, that any public functionary will be appointed by the president. 
You merely grant the means by which the executive may act when he 
thinks proper. What does he tell you in his message ? That Greece is 
contending for her independence ; that all sympathize with her ; and that 
no power has declared against her. Pass this resolution, and what is the 
reply which it conveys to him ? " You have sent us grateful intelligence ; 
we feel warmly for Greece, and we grant you money, that, when you shall 
think it proper, when the interests of this nation shall not be jeoparded, 
you may depute a commissioner or public agent to Greece." The whole 
responsibility is then left where the Constitution puts it. A member in 
his place may make a speech or proposition, the House may even pass 
a vote, in respect to our foreign affairs, which the president, with the 
whole field lying full before him, would not deem it expedient to effec- 
tuate. 

But, sir, it is not for Greece alone that I desire to see this measure 
adopted. It will give to her but little support, and that purely of a moral 
kind. It is principally for America, for the credit and character of our 
common country, for our own unsullied name, that I hope to see it pass. 
Mr. Chairman, what appearance on the page of history would a record 
like this exhibit ? " In the month of January, in the year of our Lord and 
Saviour, 1824, while all European Christendom beheld, with cold and un- 
feeling indifference, the unexampled wrongs and inexpressible misery of 
Christian Greece, a proposition was made in the Congress of the United 
States, almost the sole, the last, the greatest depository of human hope and 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 253 

human freedom, the representatives of a gallant nation, containing- a mil- 
lion of freemen ready to fly to arms, while the people of that nation were 
spontaneously expressing its deep-toned feeling, and the whole continent, 
by one simultaneous emotion, was rising, and solemnly and anxiously sup- 
plicating and invoking high heaven to spare and succor Greece, and to in- 
vigorate her arms in her glorious cause, while temples and senate houses 
were alike resounding with one burst of generous and holy sympathy ; in 
the year of our Lord and Saviour, that Saviour of Greece and of us ; a 
proposition was offered in the American Congress to send a messenger to 
Greece, to inquire into her state and condition, with a kind expression of 
our good wishes and our sympathies — and it was rejected !" Go home, 
if you can ; go home if you dare, to your constituents, and tell them that 
you voted it down ; meet, if you can, the appalling countenances of those 
who sent you here, and tell them that you shrank from the declaration of 
your own sentiments ; that you can not tell how, but that some unknown 
dread, some indescribable apprehension, some indefinable danger, drove you 
from your purpose ; that the specters of cimeters, and crowns, and cres- 
cents, gleamed before you and alarmed you ; and that you suppressed all 
the noble feelings prompted by religion, by liberty, by national independ- 
ence, and by humanity. I can not bring myself to believe, that such will 
be the feeling of a majority of the committee. But, for myself, though 
every friend of the cause should desert it, and I be left to stand alone with 
the gentleman from Massachusetts, I will give to his resolution the poor 
sanction of my unqualified approbation. 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 30 and 31, 1824. 

[We come now to one of the most elaborate compositions of 
Mr. Clay, on a theme in which he always felt the deepest interest. 
No one can read the following speech without being sensible of 
the patient study and profound investigation, which it must have 
cost the author. Simple and unadorned, as Mr. Clay's style al- 
ways is, this is, nevertheless, what may be called an ornate, as 
well as an elaborate production. It is one of the greatest studies 
of his life, and the subject was worthy of it — called for it. We 
have before noticed the failure of the tariff bill of 1820, for lack 
of a single vote in the Senate, and how much depended upon it. 
After the close of the war of 1812, down to 1820, the country 
had suffered incalculably for want of adequate protection to 
home industry, and the loss of the tariff of 1820 was a calamity 
the extent of which could not be estimated. Besides the almost 
total paralysis of domestic trade and foreign commerce, and the 
painful contraction. of the currency, Mr. Clay's estimate of the 
average depression of fifty per cent, in all kinds of property in the 
country, by reason of these misfortunes, was by no means extrav- 
agant. AVhat an amazing reckoning this, if it were a just one ! 
Four years from 1820, the country had gone on suffering in this 
manner, in addition to all the disadvantages of the previous four 
years, from 1816 to 1820. If Mr. Clay's patriotism could ever 
prompt him to a great effort — of which no one will doubt — it 
was during the pendency of the tariff bill of 1824. The protec- 
tion of American manufactures was a subject of which Mr. Clay 
was now perfect master. He had studied it profoundly for more 
than twenty years, and had often advocated it, first, in the Legis- 
lature of Kentucky, and afterward, in Congress. He had closely 
observed the painful experience of the country from 1816 to 1824, 
for want of protection, and he came to the argument of the fol- 
lowing speech armed with facts, and stimulated in a high degree 
by his patriotic zeal. It was in this speech that his American 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 255 

System was baptized by himself, and leaped from the font, to 
bear that name forever in the political history of the country. 
The tariff of 1824 passed both Houses of Congress, was approved 
by the president (somewhat reluctantly), and became a law. In 
reference to this tariff, Mr. Clay said, in 1832, being then in the 
Senate : "If I were to select any term of seven years, since the 
adoption of the present Constitution, which exhibited a scene of 
the most wide-spread dismay and desolation, it would be exactly 
that term of seven years which immediately preceded the estab- 
lishment of the tariff of 1824 ; and if the term of seven years 
were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity which this people 
have enjoyed, since the establishment of their present Constitu- 
tion, it would be exactly that period of seven years which imme- 
diately followed the passage of the tariff of 1824." This descrip- 
tion of these two cycles of our history will, perhaps, be enough 
to commend to the profoundest consideration the following great 
argument of Mr. Clay, when it is considered, that it was greatly, 
not to say chiefly, influential, in procuring the adoption of the 
tariff of 1824. It is the most compact and best constructed 
paper that was ever written upon the subject — a condensation of 
Mr. Clay's thoughts, of his reasonings, and of the fruits of his 
researches on this theme, for a quarter of a century — all brought 
to bear on this occasion.] 

The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Barbour) has embraced the occasion 
produced by the proposition of the gentleman from Tennessee to strike 
out the minimum price in the bill on cotton fabrics, to express his senti- 
ments at large on the policy of the pending measure ; and it is scarcely 
necessary for me to say he has evinced his usual good temper, ability, and 
decorum. The parts of the bill are so intermingled and interwoven to- 
gether, that there can be no doubt of the fitness of this occasion to exhibit 
its merits or its defects. It is my intention, with the permission of the 
committee, to avail myself also of this opportunity, to present to its con- 
sideration those general views, as they appear to me, of the true policy of 
this country, which imperiously demand the passage of this bill. I am 
deeply sensible, Mr. Chairman, of the high responsibility of my present 
situation. But that responsibility inspires me with no other apprehension 
than that I shall be unable to fulfill my duty ; with no other solicitude 
than that I may, at least, in some small degree, contribute to recall my 
country from the pursuit of a fatal policy, which appears to me iuevitably 
to lead to its impoverishment and ruin. I do feel most awfully this 
responsibility. And, if it were allowable for us, at the present day, to 
imitate ancient examples, I would invoke the aid of the Most High. I 



/ 



256 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

would anxiously and fervently implore His divine assistance ; that He 
would be graciously pleased to shower on my country His richest bless- 
ings ; and that He would sustain, on this interesting occasion, the humble 
individual who stands before Him, and lend him the power, moral and 
physical, to perform the solemn duties which now belong to his public 
station. 

Two classes of politicians divide the people of the United States. Ac- 
cording to the system of one, the produce of foreign industry should be 
subjected to no other impost than such as may be necessary to provide a 
public revenue ; and the produce of American industry should be left to 
sustain itself, if it can, with no other than that incidental protection, in its 
competition, at home as well as abroad, with rival foreign articles. Ac- 
cording to the system of the other class, while they agree that the imposts 
should be mainly, and may under any modification be safely, relied on as a 
fit and convenient source of public revenue, they would so adjust and ar- 
range the duties on foreign fabrics as to afford a gradual but adequate pro- 
tection to American industry, and lessen our dependence on foreign nations, 
by securing a certain and ultimately a cheaper and better supply of our 
own wants from our own abundant resources. Both classes are equally 
sincere in their respective opinions, equally honest, equally patriotic, and 
desirous of advancing the prosperity of the country. In the discussion and 
consideration of these opposite opinions, for the purpose of ascertaining 
which has the support of truth and reason, we should, therefore, exercise 
every indulgence, and the greatest spirit of mutual moderation and for- 
bearance. And, in our deliberations on this great question, we should look 
fearlessly and truly at the actual condition of the country, retrace the 
causes which have brought us into it, and snatch, if possible, a view of the 
future. We should, above all, consult experience — the experience of other 
nations, as well as our own — as our truest and most unerring guide. 

In casting our eyes around us, the most prominent circumstance which 
fixes our attention, and challenges our deepest regret, is the general distress 
which pervades the whole country. It is forced upon us by numerous 
facts of the most incontestable character. It is indicated by the diminish- 
ed exports of native produce ; by the depressed and reduced state of our 
foreign navigation ; by our diminished commerce ; by successive unthresh- 
ed crops of grain, perishing in our barns and barn-yards for the want of 
a market ; by the alarming diminution of the circulating medium ; by the 
numerous bankruptcies, not limited to the trading classes, but extending 
to all orders of society ; by a universal complaint of the want of employ- 
ment, and a consequent reduction of the wages of labor ; by the ravenous 
pursuit after public situations, not for the sake of their honors and the per- 
formance of their public duties, but as a means of private subsistence ; by 
the reluctant resort to the perilous use of paper money ; by the interven- 
tion of legislation in the delicate relation between debtor and creditor ; 
and, above all, by the low and depressed state of the value of almost every 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 257 

description of the whole mass of the property of the nation, which has, on 
an average, sunk not less than ahout fifty per centum within a few years. 
This distress pervades every part of the Union, every class of society ; all 
feel it, though it may be felt, at different places, in different degrees. It is 
like the atmosphere which surrounds us — all must inhale it, and none can 
escape it. In some places it has burst upon our people, without a single 
mitigating circumstance to temper its severity. In others, more fortunate, 
slight alleviations have been experienced in the expenditure of the public 
revenue, and in other favoring causes. A few years ago, the planting in- 
terest consoled itself with its happy exemptions, but it has now reached 
this interest also, which experiences, though with less severity, the general 
suffering. It is most painful to me to attempt to sketch or to dwell on the 
gloom of this picture. But I have exaggerated nothing. Perfect fidelity 
to the original would have authorized me to have thrown on deeper and 
darker hues. And it is the duty of the statesman, no less than that of the 
physician, to survey, with a penetrating, steady, and undismayed eye, the 
actual condition of the subject on which he would operate; to probe to the 
bottom the diseases of the body politic, if he would apply efficacious rem- 
edies. We have not, thank God, suffered in any great degree for food. 
But distress, resulting from the absence of a supply of the mere physical 
wants of our nature, is not the only nor perhaps the keenest distress, to 
which we may be exposed. Moral and pecuniary suffering is, if possible, 
more poignant. It plunges its victim into hopeless despair. It poisons, it 
paralyzes, the spring and source of all useful exertion. Its unsparing ac- 
tion is collateral as well as direct. It falls with inexorable force at the 
same time upon the wretched family of embarrassment and insolvency, and 
upon its head. They are a faithful mirror, reflecting back upon him, at 
once, his own frightful image, and that, no less appalling, of the dearest ob- 
jects of his affection. What is the cause of this wide-spreading distress, 
of this deep depression, which we behold stamped on the public counte- 
nance ? We are the same people. We have the same country. We can 
not arraign the bounty of Providence. The showers still fall in the same 
grateful abundance. The sun still casts his genial and vivifying influence 
upon the land ; and the land, fertile and diversified in its soils as ever, 
yields to the industrious cultivator, in boundless profusion, its accustomed 
fruits, its richest treasures. Our vigor is unimpaired. Our industry has 
not relaxed. If ever the accusation of wasteful extravagance could be 
made against our people, it can not now be justly preferred. They, on the 
contrary, for the few last years, at least, have been practicing the most rig- 
id economy. The causes, then, of our present affliction, whatever they may 
be, are human causes, and human causes not chargeable upon the people, 
in their private and individual relations. 

What, again I would ask, is the cause of the unhappy condition of our 
country, which I have faintly depicted ? It is to be found in the fact, that 
during almost the whole existence of this government, we have shaped our 

17 



258 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

industry, our navigation, and our commerce, in reference to an extraordi- 
nary war in Europe, and to foreign markets, which no longer exist ; in the 
fact, that we have depended too much upon foreign sources of supply, and 
excited too little the native ; in the fact that, while we have- cultivated, 
with assiduous care, our foreign resources, we have suffered those at home 
to wither, in a state of neglect and abandonment. /\s 

The consequence of the termination of the war of Europe has been, the 
resumption of European commerce, European navigation, and the extension 
of European agriculture and European industry, in all its branches. 
Europe, therefore, has no longer occasion, to any thing like the same ex- 
tent as that she had during her wars, for American commerce, American 
navigation, the produce of American industry. Europe, in commotion, and 
convulsed throughout all her members, is to America no longer the same 
Europe as she is now, tranquil, and watching with the most vigilant atten- 
tion all her own peculiar interests, without regard to the operation of her 
policy upon us. The effect of this altered state of Europe upon us has 
been to circumscribe the employment of our marine, and greatly to reduce 
the value of the produce of our .territorial labor. The further effect of 
this twofold reduction has been, to decrease the value of all property, 
whether on the land or on the ocean, and which I suppose to be about 
fifty per centum. And the still further effect has been, to diminish the 
amount of our circulating medium, in a proportion not less, by its trans- 
mission abroad, or its withdrawal by the banking institutions, from a ne- 
cessity which they could not control. The quantity of money, in whatever 
form it may be, which a nation wants, is in proportion to the total mass 
of its wealth, and to the activity of that wealth. A nation that has but 
little wealth, has but a limited want of money. In stating the fact, there- 
fore, that the total wealth of the country has diminished, within a few years, 
in a ratio of about fifty per centum, we shall, at once, fully comprehend 
the inevitable reduction which must have ensued, in the total quantity of 
the circulating medium of the country. A nation is most prosperous 
when there is a gradual and untempting addition to the aggregate of its 
circulating medium. It is in a condition the most adverse, when there 
is a rapid diminution in the quantity of the circulating medium, and 
a consequent depression in the value of property. In the former case, the 
wealth of individuals insensibly increases, and income keeps ahead of ex- 
penditure. But in the latter instance, debts have been contracted, engage- 
ments made, and habits of expense established, in reference to the ex- 
isting state of wealth and of its representative. "When these come to be 
greatly reduced, individuals find their debts still existing, their engage- 
ments unexecuted, and their habits inveterate. They see themselves in the 
possession of the same property, on which, in good faith, they had bound 
themselves.^ But that property, without their fault, possesses no longer the 
same value ; and hence discontent, impoverishment, and ruin, arise. Let us 
suppose, Mr. Chairman, that Europe was again the theater of such a gen- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 259 

eral war as recently raged throughout all her dominions — such a state of 
the war as existed in her greatest exertions and in our greatest prosperity ; 
instantly there would arise a greedy demand for the surplus produce of our 
industry, for our commerce, for our navigation. The langor which now 
prevails in our cities, and in our sea-ports, would give way to an auimated 
activity. Our roads and rivers would be crowded with the produce of the 
interior. Everywhere we should witness excited industry. The precious 
metals would refiow from abroad upon us. Banks, which have maintained 
their credit, would revive their business ; and new banks would be estab- 
lished to take the place of those which have sunk beneath the general 
pressure. For it is a mistake to suppose that they have produced our 
present adversity ; they may have somewhat aggravated it, but they were 
the effect and the evidence of our prosperity. Prices would again get up ; 
the former value of property would be restored. And those embarrassed 
persons who have not been already overwhelmed by the times, would sud- 
denly find, in the augmented value of their property, and the renewal of 
their business, ample means to extricate themselves from all their difficul- 
ties. The greatest want of civilized society is, a market for the sale and 
exchange of the surplus of the produce of the labor of its members. 
This market may exist at home or abroad, or both ; but it must exist 
somewhere, if society prospers ; and, wherever it does exist, it should be 
competent to the absorption of the entire surplus of production. It is 
most desirable that there should be both a home and a foreign market 
But, with respect to their relative superiority, I can not entertain a doubt. 
The home market is first in order, and paramount in importance. The 
object of the bill under consideration, is, to create this home market, and 
to lay the foundations of a genuine American policy. It is opposed ; and 
it is incumbent upon the partisans of the foreign policy (terms which I 
shall use without any invidious intent), to demonstrate that the foreign 
market is an adequate vent for the surplus produce of our labor. But is 
it so ? First, foreign nations can not, if they would, take our surplus pro- 
duce. If the source of supply, no matter of what, increases in a greater 
ratio than the demand for that supply, a glut of the market is inevitable, 
even if we suppose both to remain perfectly unobstructed. The duplica- 
tion of our population takes place in terms of about twenty-five years. 
The term will be more and more extended as our numbers multiply. But 
it will be a sufficient approximation to assume this ratio for the present. 
We increase, therefore, in population, at the rate of about four per centum 
per annum. Supposing the increase of our production to be in the same 
ratio, we should, every succeeding year, have of surplus produce, four per 
centum more than that of the preceding year, without taking into the ac- 
count the differences of seasons which neutralize each other. If, therefore, 

* ft 

we are to rely upon the foreign market exclusively, foreign consumption 
ought to be shown to be increasing in the same ratio of four per centum 
per annum, if it be an adequate vent for our surplus produce. But, as I 



260 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

have supposed the measure of our increasing production to be furnished 
by that of our increasing population, so the measure of their power of 
consumption must be determined by that of the increase of their popula- 
tion. Now, the total foreign population, who consume our surplus pro- 
duce, upon an average, do not double their aggregate number in a shorter 
term than that of about one hundred years. Our powers of produc- 
tion increase then, in a ratio four times greater than their powers of con- 
sumption. And hence their utter inability to receive from us our surplus 
produce. 

But, secondly, if they could, they will not. The policy of all Europe is 
adverse to the reception of our agricultural produce, so far as it comes 
into collision with its own ; and under that limitation we are absolutely 
forbid to enter their ports, except under circumstances which deprive them 
of all value as a steady market. The policy of all Europe rejects those 
great staples of our country which consist of objects of human subsistence. 
The policy of all Europe refuses to receive from us any thing but those 
raw materials of smaller value, essential to their manufactures, to which 
they can give a higher value, with the exception of tobacco and rice, which 
they can not produce. Even Great Britain, to which 'we are its best cus- 
tomer, and from which we receive nearly one half in value of our whole 
imports, will not take from us articles of subsistence produced in our 
country cheaper than can be produced in Great Britain. Iu adopting this 
exclusive policy, the States of Europe do not~ inquire what is best for us, 
but what suits themselves respectively; they do not take jurisdiction of 
the question of our interests, but limit the object of their legislation to 
that of the conservation of their own peculiar interests, leaving us free to 
prosecute ours as we please. They do not guide themselves by that roman- 
tic philanthropy, which we see displayed here, and which invokes us to 
continue to purchase the produce of foreign industry, without regard to 
the state or prosperity of our own, that foreigners may be pleased to pur- 
chase the few remaining articles of ours, which their restricted policy has 
not yet absolutely excluded from their consumption. What sort of a 
figure would a member of the British Parliament have made, what sort of 
a reception would his opposition have obtained, if he had remonstrated 
against the passage of the corn-law, by which British consumption is 
limited to the bread-stuffs of British production, to the entire exclusion of 
American, and stated, that America could not and would not buy British 
manufactures, if Britain did not buy American flour ? 

Both the inability and the policy of foreign powers, then, forbid us to 
rely upon the foreign market, as being an adequate vent for the surplus 
produce of American labor. Now let us see if this general reasoning is 
not fortified and confirmed by the actual experience of this country. If 
the foreign market may be safely relied upon, as furnishing an adequate 
demand for our surplus produce, then the official documents will show a 
progressive increase, from year to year, in the exports of our native pro- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 261 

duce, in a proportion equal to that which I have suggested. If, on the 
contrary, we shall find from them that, for a long term of past years, some 
of our most valuable staples have retrograded, some remained stationary, 
and others advanced but little, if any, in amount, with the exception of cot- 
ton, the deductions of reason and the lessons of experience will alike com- 
mand us to withdraw our confidence in the competency of the foreign 
market. The total amount of all our exports of domestic produce for the 
year, beginning in 1*795, and ending on the thirtieth September, 1796, 
was forty millions seven hundred and sixty-four thousand and ninety-seven. 
Estimating the increase according to the ratio of the increase of our pop- 
ulation, that is, at four per centum per annum, the amount of the exports 
of the same produce, in the year ending on the thirtieth of September last, 
ought to have been eighty-five millions four hundred and twenty thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-one. It was in fact, only forty-seven millions one 
hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and eio-ht. Takino- the aver- 
age of five years, from 1803 to 1807, inclusive, the amount of native pro- 
duce exported, was forty-three millions two hundred and two thousand 
seven hundred and fifty-one for each of those years. Estimating what it 
ought to have been, during the last year, applying the principle suggested 
to that amount, there should have been exported seventy-seven millions 
seven hundred and sixty-six thousand seven hundred and fifty-one, instead 
of forty-seven millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and 
eight. If these comparative amounts of the aggregate actual exports, and 
what they ought to have been, be discouraging, we shall find, on descend- 
ing into particulars, still less cause of satisfaction. The export of tobacco 
in 1*791, was one hundred and twelve thousand four hundred and twenty- 
eight hogsheads. That was the year of the largest exportation of that 
article; but it is the only instance in which I have selected the maximum 
of exportation. The amount of what we ought to have exported last year, 
estimated according to the scale of increase which I have used, is two 
hundred and sixty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-two hogsheads. 
The actual export was ninety-nine thousand and nine hogsheads. We ex- 
ported, in 1803, the quantity of one million three hundred and eleven 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three barrels of flour ; and ought to have 
exported last year, two millions three hundred and sixty-one thousand 
three hundred and thirty-three barrels. We, in fact, exported only seven 
hundred and fifty-six thousand seven hundred and two barrels. Of that 
quantity, we sent to South America one hundred and fifty thousand barrels, 
according to a statement furnished me by the diligence of a friend near 
me (Mr. Poinsett), to whose valuable mass of accurate information, in re- 
gard to that interesting quarter of the world, I have had occasion fre- 
quently to apply. But that demand is temporary, growing out of the 
existing state of war. Whenever peace is restored to it, and I now hope 
that the day is not distant when its independence will be generally acknowl- 
edged, there can not be a doubt that it will supply its own consumption. 



262 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

In all parts of it, the soil, either from climate or from elevation, is well 
adapted to tbe culture of wheat ; and nowhere can better wheat be pro- 
duced, than in some portions of Mexico and Chili. Still the market of 
South America, is one which, on other accounts, deserves the greatest con- 
sideration. And I congratulate you, the committee, and the country, on 
the recent adoption of a more auspicious policy toward it. 

We exported, in 1803, Indian corn to the amount of two millions seven- 
ty-four thousand six hundred and eight bushels. The quantity should have 
been, in 1823, three millions seven hundred and thirty-four thousand two 
hundred and eighty-eight bushels. The actual quantity exported, was 
seven hundred and forty-nine thousand and thirty-four bushels, or about 
one fifth of what it should have been, and a little more than one third of 
what it was more than twenty years ago. We ought not, then, to be sur- 
prised at the extreme depression of the price of that article, of which I 
have heard my honorable friend (Mr. Bassett) complain, nor of the distress 
of the corn-growing districts adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay. We export- 
ed seventy-seven thousand nine hundred and thirty-four barrels of beef in 
1803, and last year but sixty-one thousand four hundred and eighteen, in- 
stead of one hundred and forty thousand two hundred and seventy-four 
barrels. In the same year (1803) we exported ninety-six thousand six 
hundred and two barrels of pork, and last year fifty-five thousand five hun- 
dred and twenty-nine, instead of one hundred and seventy-three thousand 
eight hundred and eighty-two barrels. Rice ha^ not advanced, by any 
means, in the proportion, which it ought to have done. All the small ar- 
ticles, such as cheese, butter, candles, and so forth, too minute to detail, 
but important in their aggregate, have also materially diminished. Cotton 
alone has advanced. But, while the quantity of it is augmented, its actual 
value is considerably diminished. The total quantity last year, exceeded 
that of the preceding year, by nearly thirty millions of pounds. And yet 
the total value of the year of smaller exportation, exceeded that of the last 
year by upward of three and a half millions of dollars. If this article, the 
capacity of our country to produce wdiich was scarcely known in 1790, 
were subtracted from the mass of our exports, the value of the residue 
would only be a little upward of twenty-seven millions during the last 
year. The distribution of the articles of our exports throughout the United 
States, can not fail to fix the attention of the committee. Of the forty- 
seven millions one hundred aud fifty-five thousand four hundred and eight' 
to which they amounted last year, three articles alone (cotton, rice, and to- 
bacco) composed together twenty-eight millions five hundred and forty- 
nine thousand one hundred and seventy-seven. Now these articles are 
chiefly produced at the South. And if we estimate that portion of our pop- 
ulation who are actually engaged in their culture, it would probably not 
exceed two millions. Thus, then, less than one fifth of the whole popula- 
tion of the United States produced upward of one half, nearly two thirds, 
of the entire value of the exports of the last year. 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 26*3 

Is this foreign market, so incompetent at present, and which, limited as 
its demands are, operates so unequally upon the productive lahor of our 
country, likely to improve in future ? If I am correct in the views which I 
have presented to the committee, it must become worse and worse. What 
can improve it ? Europe will not abandon her own agriculture to foster 
ours. We may even anticipate that she will more and more enter into 
competition with us in the supply of the West India market. That of South 
America, for articles of subsistence, will probably soon vanish. The value 
of our exports, for the future, may remain at about what it was last year. 
But, if we do not create some new market ; if we persevere in the existing 
pursuits of agriculture, the inevitable consequence must be, to augment 
greatly the quantity of our produce, and to lessen its value in the foreign 
market. Can there be a doubt on this point ? Take the article of cotton, 
for example, which is almost the only article that now remunerates labor 
and capital. A certain description of labor is powerfully attracted toward 
the cotton-growing country.' The cultivation will be greatly extended, the 
aggregate amount annually produced, will be vastly augmented. The price 
will fall. The more unfavorable soils will then be gradually abandoned. 
And I have no doubt that, in a few years, it will cease to be profitably pro- 
duced, anywhere north of the thirty-fourth degree of latitude. But, in the 
mean time, large numbers of the cotton-growers will suffer the greatest dis- 
tress. And while this distress is brought upon our own country, foreign 
industry will be stimulated by the very cause which occasions our distress. 
For, by surcharging the markets abroad, the price of the raw material 
being reduced, the manufacturer will be able to supply cotton fabrics 
cheaper ; and the consumption, in his own country, and in foreign nations, 
other than ours (where the value of the import must be limited to the 
value of the export, which I have supposed to remain the same), being pro- 
portionably extended, there will be consequently, an increased demand for 
the produce of his industry. 

Our agriculture is our greatest interest. It ought ever to be predominant. 
All others should bend to it. And, in considering what is for its advantage, 
we should contemplate it in all its varieties, of planting, farming and grazino-. 
Can we do nothing to invigorate it ; nothing to correct the errors of the 
past, and to brighten the still more unpromising prospects which lie before 
us ? We have seen, I think, the causes of the distresses of the country. We 
have seen, that an exclusive dependence upon the foreign market must lead 
to still severer distress, to impoverishment, to ruin. We must then change 
somewhat our course. We must give a new direction to some portion 
of our industry. We must speedily adopt a genuine American policy. 
Still cherishing the foreign market, let us create also a home market, to 
give further scope to the consumption of the produce of American in- 
dustry. Let us counteract the policy of foreigners, and withdraw the sup- 
port which we now give to their industry, and stimulate that of our own 
country. It should be a prominent object with wise legislators, to multi- 



264 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ply the vocations aud extend the business of society, as far as is can be 
done, by the protection of our interests at home, against the injurious ef- 
fects of foreign legislation. Suppose we -were a nation of fishermen, or of 
skippers, to the exclusion of every other occupation, and the Legislature 
had the power to introduce the pursuits of agriculture and manufactures, 
would not our happiness be promoted by an exertion of its authority ? 
All the existing employments of society — the learned professions — com- 
merce — agriculture — are now overflowing. We stand in each other's way. 
Hence the want of employment. Hence the eager pursuit after public 
stations, which I have before glanced at. I have been again and again 
shocked, during this session, by instances of solicitation for places, before 
the vacancies existed. The pulse of incumbents, who happen to be taken 
ill, is not marked with more anxiety by the attending physicians, than by 
those who desire to succeed them, though with very opposite feelings. 
Our old friend, the faithful sentinel, who has stood so long at our door, and 
the gallantry of whose patriotism deserves to be noticed, because it was 
displayed when that virtue was most rare and most wanted, on a memor- 
able occasion in this unfortunate city, became indisposed some weeks ago. 
The first intelligence which I had of his dangerous illness, was by an ap- 
plication for his unvacated place. I hastened to assure myself of the ex- 
tent of his danger, and was happy to find that the eagerness of succession 
outstripped the progress of disease. By creating a new and extensive 
business, then, we would not only give employment to those who want it, 
and augment the sum of national wealth, by all that this new business 
would create, but we should meliorate the condition of those who are now 
engaged in existing employments. In Europe, particularly Great Britain, 
their large standing armies, large navies, large even on their peace arrange- 
ment, their established church, afford to their population employments, 
which, in that respect, the happier Constitution of our government does 
not tolerate but in a very limited degree. The peace establishments of our 
army and our navy, are extremely small, and I hope ever will be. We 
have no established church, and I trust never shall have. In proportion as 
the enterprise of our citizens in public employments is circumscribed, should 
we excite aud invigorate it in private pursuits. 

The creation of a home market is not only necessary to procure for our 
agriculture a just reward for its labors, but it is indispensable to obtain a 
supply for our necessary wants. If we can not sell, we can not buy. That 
portion of our population (and we have seen that it is not less than four 
fifths), which makes comparatively nothing that foreigners will buy, has 
nothing to make purchases with from foreigners. It is in vain that we 
are told of the amount of our exports supplied by the planting interest. 
They may enable the planting interest to supply all its wants ; but they 
bring no ability to the interests not planting ; unless, which can not be 
pretended, the planting interest was an adequate vent for the surplus pro- 
duce of the labor of all other interests. It is in vain to tantalize us with 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 265 

the greater cheapness of foreign fabrics. There must be an ability to pur- 
chase, if an article be obtained, whatever may be the price, high or low, 
at which it is sold. And a cheap article is as much beyond the grasp of 
him who has no means to buy, as a high one. Even if it were true that 
the American manufacturer would supply consumption at dearer rates, it 
is better to have his fabrics than the unattainable foreign fabrics; because 
it is better to be ill supplied than not supplied at all. A coarse coat, 
which will communicate warmth and cover nakedness, is better than no 
coat. The superiority of the home market results, first, from its steadiness 
and comparative certainty at all times ; secondly, from the creation of re- 
ciprocal interest ; thirdly, from its greater security ; and, lastly, from an 
ultimate and not distant augmentation of consumption (and consequently 
of comfort), from increased quantity and reduced prices. But this home 
market, highly desirable as it is, can only be created and cherished by the 
protection of our own legislation against the inevitable prostration of our 
industry, which must ensue from the action of foreign policy and legisla- 
tion. The effect and the value of this domestic care of our own interests 
will be obvious from a few facts and considerations. Let us suppose that 
half a million of persons are now employed abroad in fabricating, for our 
consumption, those articles, of which, by the operation of this bill, a supply 
is intended to be provided within ourselves. That half a million of persons 
are, in effect, subsisted by us ; but their actual means of subsistence are 
drawn from foreign agriculture. If we could transport them to this 
country, and incorporate them in the mass of our own population, there 
would instantly arise a demand for an amount of provisons equal to that 
which would be requisite for their subsistence throughout the whole year. 
That demand, in the article of flour alone, would not be less than the 
quantity of about nine hundred thousand barrels, besides a proportionate 
quantity of beef, and pork, and other articles of subsistence. But nine 
hundred thousand barrels of flour exceeds the entire quantity exported last 
year, by nearly one huudred and fifty thousand barrels. What activity 
would not this give, what cheerfulness would it not communicate, to our 
now dispirited farming interest ! But if, instead of these five hundred 
thousand artizans emigrating from abroad, we give by this bill employment 
to an equal number of our own citizens, now engaged in unprofitable agri- 
culture, or idle from the want of business, the beneficial effect upon the 
productions of our farming labor would be nearly doubled. The quantity 
would be diminished by a subtraction of the produce from the labor of all 
those who should be diverted from its pursuits to manufacturing industry, 
and the value of the residue would be enhanced, both by that diminution 
and the creation of the home market, to the extent supposed. And the 
honorable gentleman from Virginia may repress any apprehensions which 
he entertains, that the plow will be abandoned, and our fields remain un- 
sown. For, under all the modifications of social industry, if you will secure 
to it a just reward, the greater attractions of agriculture will give to it 



2G6 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that proud superiority which it has always maintained. If we suppose no 
actual abandonment of farming, but, what is most likely, a gradual and 
imperceptible employment of population in the business of manufacturing, 
instead of being compelled to resort to agriculture, the salutary effect 
would be nearly the same. Is any part of our common country likely to 
be injured by a transfer of the theater of fabrication, for our own con- 
sumption, from Europe to America ? All that those parts, if any there be, 
which will not, and can not engage in manufactures, should require, is, 
that their consumption should be well supplied ; and if the objects of that 
consumption are produced in other parts of the Union, that can manufac- 
ture, far from having on that account any just cause of complaint, their 
patriotism will and ought to inculcate a cheerful acquiescence in what es- 
sentially contributes, and is indispensably necessary, to the prosperity of the 
common family. 

The great desideratum in political economy is the same as in private 
pursuits ; that is, what is the best application of the aggregate industry 
of a nation, that can be made honestly to produce the largest sum of na- 
tional wealth ? Labor is the source of all wealth ; but it is not natural labor 
only. And the fundamental error of the gentleman from Virginia, and of 
the school to which he belongs, in deducing, from our sparse population, 
our unfitness for the introduction of the arts, consists in their not sufficiently 
weighing the importance of the power of machinery. In former times, 
when but little comparative use was made of machinery, manual labor, 
and the price of wages, were circumstances of the greatest consideration. 
But it is far otherwise in these latter times. Such are the improvements 
and the perfection of machinery, that, in analyzing the compound value 
of many fabrics, the element of natural labor is so inconsiderable as almost 
to escape detection. This truth is demonstrated by many facts. Formerly, 
Asia, in consequence of the density of the population, and the consequent 
lowness of wages, laid Europe under tribute for many of her fabrics. 
Now Europe reacts upon Asia, and Great Britain, in particular, throws 
back upon her countless millions of people the rich treasures produced by 
artificial labor, to a vast amount, infinitely cheaper than they can be manu- 
factured by the natural exertions of that portion of the globe. But Britain 
is herself the most striking illustration of the immense power of machinery. 
Upon what other principle can you account for the enormous wealth which 
she has accumulated, and which she annually produces 1 A statistical 
writer of that country, several years ago, estimated the total amount of the 
artificial or machine labor of the nation, to be equal to that of one hun- 
dred millions of able-bodied laborers. Subsequent estimates of her arti- 
ficial labor, at the present day, carry it to the enormous height of two 
hundred millions. But the population of the three kingdoms is twenty- 
one millions five hundred thousand. Supposing, that to furnish able-bodied 
labor to the amount of four millions, the natural labor will be but two per 
centum of the artificial labor. In the production of wealth she operates, 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 267 

therefore, by a power (including the whole population) of two hundred 
and twenty-one millions five hundred thousand ; or, in other words, by 
a power eleven times greater than the total of her natural power. If we 
suppose the machine-labor of the United States to be equal to that of ten 
millions of able-bodied men, the United States will operate, in the creation 
of wealth, by a power (including all their population) of twenty millions. 
In the creation of wealth, therefore, the power of Great Britain, compared 
to that of the United States, is as eleven to one. That these views are 
not imaginary, will be, I think, evinced by contrasting the wealth, the rev- 
enue, the power, of the two countries. Upon what other hypothesis can 
we explain those almost incredible exertions which Britain made during 
the late wars of Europe ? Look at her immense subsidies ! Behold her 
standing, unaided and alone, and breasting the storm of Napoleon's co- 
lossal power, when all continental Europe owned and yielded to its irresist- 
ible sway ; and finally, contemplate her vigorous prosecution of the war, 
with and without allies, to its splendid" termination on the ever-memorable 
field of Waterloo ! The British works which the gentleman from Virginia 
has quoted, portray a state of the most wonderful prosperity, in regard to 
wealth and resources, that ever was before contemplated. Let us look a 
little into the semi-official pamphlet, written with great force, clearness, 
and ability, and the valuable work of Lowe, to both of which that gen- 
tleman has referred. The revenue of the United Kingdom amounted, 
during the latter years of the war, to seventy millions of pounds sterling ; 
and one year it rose to the astonishing height of ninety millions sterling, 
equal to four hundred millions of dollars. This was actual revenue, made 
up of real contributions, from the purses of the people. After the close 
of the war, ministers slowly and reluctantly reduced the military and naval 
establishments, and accommodated them to a state of peace. The pride 
of power, everywhere the same, always unwillingly surrenders any of those 
circumstances, which display its pomp and exhibit its greatness. Cotem- 
poraneous with this reduction, Britain was enabled to lighten some of the 
heaviest burdens of taxation, and particularly that most onerous of all, 
the income tax. In this lowered state, the revenue of peace, gradually 
rising from the momentary depression incident to a transition fsom war, 
attained, in 1822, the vast amount of fifty-five millions sterling, upward 
of two hundred and forty millions of dollars, and more than eleven times 
that of the United States for the same year ; thus indicating the difference, 
which I have suggested, in the respective productive powers of the two 
countries. The excise alone (collected under twenty-five different heads) 
amounted to twenty-eight millions, more than one half of the total 
revenue of the kingdom. This great revenue allows Great Britain to con- 
stitute an efficient sinking fund of five millions sterling, beim? an excess 
of actual income beyond expenditure, and amounting to more than the 
entire revenue of the United States. 

If we look at the commerce of England, we shall perceive that its pros- 



268 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

perous condition no less denotes the immensity of her riches. The average 
of three years' exports, ending in 1789, was between thirteen and fourteen 
millions. The average for the same term, ending in 1822, was forty mil- 
lions sterling. The average of the imports for three years, ending in 1789, 
was seventeen millions. The average for the same term, ending in 1822, 
was thirty-six millions, showing a favorable balance of four millions. Thus, 
in a period not longer than that which has elapsed since the establishment 
of our Constitution, have the exports of that kingdom been tripled ; and 
this has mainly been the effect of the power of machinery. The total 
amount of the commerce of Great Britain is greater since the peace, by 
one fourth, than it was during the war. The average of her tonnage, 
during the most flourishing period of the war, was two millions four hun- 
dred thousand tons. Its average, during the three years, 1819, 1820, and 
1821, was two millions six hundred thousand — exhibiting an increase of 
two hundred thousand tons. If we glance at some of the more prominent 
articles of her manufactures, we shall be assisted in comprehending the 
true nature of the sources of her riches. The amount of cotton fabrics ex- 
ported, in the most prosperous year of the war, was eighteen millions 
sterling. In the year 1820, it was sixteen millions six hundred thousand ; 
in 1821, twenty millions five hundred thousand; in 1822, twenty-one mil- 
lions six hundred and thirty-nine thousand pounds sterling — presenting the 
astonishing increase, in two years, of upward of five millions. The total 
amount of imports in Great Britain, from all foreign ports, of the article 
of cotton wool, is five millions sterling. After supplying most abundantly 
the consumption of cotton fabrics within the country* (and a people better 
fed, and clad, and housed, are not to be found under the sun than the 
British nation) by means of her industry, she gives to this .cotton wool a 
new value, which enables her to sell to foreign nations to the amount of 
twenty-one millions six hundred and thirty-nine thousand pounds, making 
a clear profit of upward of sixteen millions five hundred thousand pounds 
sterling! In 1821, the value of the export of woolen manufactures was 
four millions three hundred thousand pounds. In 1822, it was five mil- 
lions five hundred thousand pounds. The success of her restrictive policy 
is strikingly illustrated in the article of silk. In the manufacture of that 
article she labors under great disadvantages, besides that of not producing 
the raw material. She has subdued them all, and the increase of the 
manufacture has been most rapid. Although she is still unable to main- 
tain, in foreign countries, a successful competition with the silks of France, 
of India, and of Italy, and therefore exports but little, she gives to the two 
millions of the raw material which she imports, in various forms, a value 
often millions, which chiefly enter into British consumption. Let us sup- 
pose that she was dependent upon foreign nations for these ten millions, 
what an injurious effect would it not have upon her commercial relations 
with them ! The average of the exports of British manufactures, during 
the peace, exceeds the average of the most productive years of the war. 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 269 

The amount of her wealth, annually produced, is three hundred and fifty 
millions sterling ; bearing a large proportion to all of her pre-existing wealth. 
The agricultural portion of it is said, by the gentleman from Virginia, to 
be greater than that created by any other branch of her industry. But 
that flows mainly from a policy similar to that proposed by this bill. One 
third only of her population is engaged in agriculture ; the other two 
thii'ds furnishing a market for the produce of that third. Withdraw this 
market, and what becomes of her agriculture ? The power and the wealth 
of Great Britain can not be more strikingly illustrated than by a compari- 
son of her population and revenue with those of other countries and with 
our own. [Here Mr. Clay exhibited the following table, made out from 
authentic materials.] 

Russia in Europe, 

France, including Corsica, 

Great Britain, exclusive of Ireland ~) 

(the taxes computed according ; 

to the value of nionev on the f 

European continent). J 

Great Britain and Ireland collectively, 
England alone, 
Spain, 
Ireland, 
The United States of America, 

From this exhibit we must remark, that the wealth of Great Britain, and 
consequently her power, is greater than that of any of the other nations with 
which it is compared. The amount of the contributions which she draws 
from the pockets of her subjects is not referred to for imitation, but as in- 
dicative of their wealth. The burden of taxation is always relative to the 
ability of the subjects of it. A poor nation can pay but little. And the 
heavier taxes of British subjects, for example, in consequence of their 
greater wealth, may be more easily borne than the much lighter taxes of 
Spanish subjects, in consequence of their extreme poverty. The object of 
wise governments should be, by sound legislation, so to protect the indus- 
try of their own citizens against the policy of foreign powers, as to give to 
it the most expansive force in the production of wealth. Great Britain 
has ever acted, and still acts, on this policy. She has pushed her protec- 
tion of British interest further than any other nation has fostered its in- 
dustry. The result is, greater wealth among her subjects, and consequently 
greater ability to pay their public burdens. If their taxation is estimated 
by their natural labor alone, nominally it is greater than the taxation of 
the subjects of any other power. But, if on a scale of their national and 
artificial labor, compounded, it is less than the taxation of any other peo- 
ple. Estimating it on that scale, and assuming the aggregate of the natural 
and artificial labor of the United Kingdom to be what I have already 



Population. 


Taxes & public 


Taxation 




burdens. 


per capita. 


37,000,000 


£17,000,000 


£0 9 9 


30,700,000 


3T, 000,000 


14 


14,500,000 


40,000,000 


2 15 


21,500 000 


44,000,000 


2 


11,600,000 


36,000,000 


3 2 


11,000,000 


6,000,000 


11 


7,000,000 


4,000,000 


11 


10,000,000 


4,500,000 


9 



270 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

slated, two hundred and twenty-one millions five hundred thousand, the 
actual taxes paid by a British subject are only about three and seven-pence 
sterling. Estimating our own taxes on a similar scale — that is, supposing 
both descriptions of labor to be equal to that of twenty millions of able- 
bodied persons — tbe amount of tax paid by each soul in the United States 
is four shillings and six-pence sterling. 

The committee will observe, from that table, that the measure of the 
wealth of a nation is indicated by the measure of its protection of its in- 
dustry ; and that the measure of the poverty of a nation is marked by that 
of the degree in which it neglects and abandons the care of its own in- 
dustry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers. Great Britain 
protects most her industry, and the wealth of Great Britain is consequently 
the greatest. France is next in the degree of protection, and France is next 
in the order of wealth. Spain most neglects the duty of protecting the in- 
dustry of her subject^ and Spain is one of the poorest of European nations. 
Unfortunate Ireland, disinherited, or rendered in her industry subservient 
to Englaud, is exactly in the same state of poverty with Spain, measured 
by the rule of taxation. And the United States are still poorer than either. 

The views of British prosperity, which I have endeavored to present, 
show that her protecting policy is adapted alike to a state of war and of 
peace. Self-poised, resting upon her own internal resources, possessing a 
home market, carefully cherished and guarded, she is ever prepared for any 
emerffencv. We have seen her coming out of a wwr of incalculable exer- 
tion, and of great duration, with her power unbroken, her means un- 
diminished. We have seen that almost every revolving year of peace has 
brought along with it an increase of her manufactures, of her commerce, 
aud, consequently, of her navigation. We have seen that, constructing her 
prosperity upon the solid foundation of her own protecting policy, it is un- 
affected by the vicissitudes of other States. What is our own condition ? 
Depending upon the state of foreign powers, confiding exclusively in a 
foreign, to the culpable neglect of a domestic policy, our interests are af- 
fected by all their movements. Their wars, their misfortunes, are the only 
source of our prosperity. In their peace and our peace we behold our con- 
dition the reverse of that of Great Britain, and all our interests stationary 
or declining. Peace brings to us none of the blessings of peace. Our 
system is anomalous ; alike unfitted to general tranquillity, and to a state 
of war or peace on the part of our own country. It can succeed only in 
the rare occurrence of a general state of war throughout Europe. I am 
no eulogist of England. I am far from recommending her systems of 
taxation. I have adverted to them only as manifesting her extraordinary 
ability. The political and foreign interests of that nation may have been, 
as I believe them to have been, often badly managed. Had she abstained 
from the wars into which she has been plunged by her ambition, or the 
mistaken policy of her ministers, the prosperity of England would, unques- 
tionably, have been much greater. But it may happen that the public 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 271 

liberty and the foreign relations of a nation have been badly provided for, 
and yet that its political economy has been wisely managed. The alacrity 
or sullenness with which a people pay taxes depends npon their wealth or 
poverty. If the system of their rulers leads to their impoverishment, they 
cau contribute but little to the necessities of the State ; if to their wealth, 
they cheerfully and promptly pay the burdens imposed on them. Enor- 
mous as British taxation appears to be, iu comparison with that of other 
nations, but really lighter, as it in fact is, when we consider its great 
wealth and its powers of production, that vast amount is collected with the 
most astonishing regularity. 

Having called the attention of the committee to the present adverse 
state of our country, and endeavored to point out the causes which have 
led to it; having shown that similar causes, wherever they exist in other 
countries, lead to the same adversity in their condition ; and having shown 
that, wherever we find opposite causes prevailing, a high and animating 
state of national prosperity exists, the committee will agree with me in 
thinking that it is the solemn duty of government to apply a remedy to 
the evils which afflict our country, if it can apply one. Is there no 
remedy within the reach of the government ? Are we doomed to behold 
our industry languish and decay yet more and more ? But there is a 
remedy, and that remedy consists in modifying our foreign policy, and in 
adopting a genuine American System. We must naturalize the arts in 
our country ; and we must naturalize them by the only means which the 
wisdom of nations has yet discovered to be effectual ; by adequate pro- 
tection against the otherwise overwhelming influence of foreigners. This 
is only to be accomplished by the establishment of a tariff, to the consid- 
eration of which I am now brought. 

And what is this tariff 2 It seems to have been regarded as a sort of 
monster, huge and deformed — a wild beast, endowed with tremendous 
powers of destruction, about to be let loose among our people, if not to 
devour them, at least to consume their substance. But let us calm our 
passions, and deliberately survey this alarming, this terrific being. The 
sole object of the tariff:' is to tax the produce of foreign industry, with the 
view of promoting American industry. The tax is exclusively leveled at 
foreign industry. That is the avowed and the direct purpose of the tariff. 
If it subjects any part of American industry to burdens, that is an effect 
not intended, but is altogether incidental, and perfectly voluntary. 

It has been treated as an imposition of burdens upon one part of the 
community by design, for the benefit of another ; as if, in fact, money were 
taken from the pockets of one portion of the people and put into the pockets 
of another. But is that a fair representation of it ? No man pays the 
duty assessed on the foreign article by compulsion, but voluntarily ; and 
this voluntary duty, if paid, goes into the common exchequer, for the com- 
mon benefit of all. Consumption has four objects of choice. First, it 
may abstain from the use of the foreign article, and thus avoid the pay- 



272 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

ment of the tax. Second, it may employ the rival American fabric. 
Third, it may engage in the business of manufacturing, which this bill is 
designed to foster. Fourth, or it may supply itself from the household 
manufactures. But it is said by the honorable gentleman from Virginia, 
that the South, owing to the character of a certain portion of its popula- 
tion, can not engage in the business of manufacturing. Now I do not 
agree in that opinion to the extent in which it is asserted. The circum- 
stance alluded to may disqualify the South from engaging in every branch 
of manufacture, as largely as other quarters of the Union, but to some 
branches of it, that part of our population is well adapted. It indispu- 
tably affords great facility in the household or domestic line. But if the 
gentleman's premises were true, could his conclusion be admitted ? Ac- 
cording to him, a certain part of our population, happily much the small- 
est, is peculiarly situated. The circumstance of its degradation unfits it 
for the manufacturing arts. The well-being of the other, and the larger 
part of our population, requires the introduction of those arts. What is 
to be done in this conflict ? The gentleman would have us abstain from 
adopting a policy called for by the interest of the greater and freer part 
of our population. But is that reasonable ? Can it be expected that the 
interests of the greater part should be made to bend to the condition 
of the servile part of our population ? That, in effect, would be to 
make us the slaves of slaves. I went, with great pleasure, along with my 
southern friends, and I am ready again to unite with them in pro- 
testing against the exercise of any legislative power, on the part of Con- 
gress, over that delicate subject, because it was my solemn conviction, that 
Congress was interdicted, or at least not authorized, by the Constitution, 
to exercise any such legislative power. And I am sure that the patriotism 
of the South may be exclusively relied upon to reject a policy which should 
be dictated by considerations altogether connected with that degraded 
class, to the prejudice of the residue of our population. But does not a 
perseverance in the foreign policy, as it now exists in fact, make all parts 
of the Union, not planting, tributary to the planting parts ? What is the 
argument ? It is that we must continue freely to receive the produce 
of foreign industry, without regard to the protection of American industry, 
that a market may be retained for the sale abroad of the produce of the 
planting portion of the country ; and that, if we lessen in all parts of 
America — those which are not planting as well as the planting sections — 
the consumption of foreign manufactures, we diminish to that extent the 
foreign market for the planting produce. The existing state of things, 
indeed, presents a sort of tacit compact between the cotton-grower and the 
British manufacturer, the stipulations of which are, on the part of the cot- 
ton-grower, that the whole of the United States, the otker portions as well 
as the cotton-growing, shall remain open and unrestricted in the con- 
sumption of British manufactures ; and, on the part of the British man- 
ufacturer, that in consideration thereof, he will continue to purchase the 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 273 

cotton of the South. Thus, then, we perceive that the proposed measure 
instead of sacrificing the South to the other parts of the Union, seeks 
only to preserve them from being absolutely sacrificed under the operation 
of the tacit compact which I have described. Supposing the South to be 
actually incompetent, or disinclined, to embark at all in the business of 
manufacturing, is not its interest, nevertheless, likely to be promoted by 
creating a new and an American source of supply for its consumption ? 
Now foreign powers, and Great Britain principally, have the monopoly of 
the supply of southern consumption. If this bill should pass, an Amer- 
ican competitor, in the supply of the South, would be raised up, and ulti- 
mately, I can not doubt, that it will be supplied more cheaply and better. 
I have before had occasion to state, and will now again mention, the bene- 
ficial effects of American competition with Europe, in furnishing a supply 
of the article of cotton bagging. After the late war, the influx of the 
Scottish manufacture prostrated the American establishments. The conse- 
quence was, that the Scotch possessed the monopoly of the supply ; and 
the price of it rose, and attained, the year before the last a height which 
amounted to more than an equivalent for ten years' protection to the 
American manufacturer. This circumstance tempted American industry 
again to engage in the business, and several valuable manufactories have 
been established in Kentucky. They have reduced the price of the fa- 
bric very considerably ; but, without the protection of government, they 
may again be prostrated, and then, the Scottish manufacturer, engrossing 
the supply of our consumption, the price will probably again rise. It has 
been tauntingly asked, if Kentucky can not maintain herself in a compe- 
tition with the two Scottish towns of Inverness and Dundee ? But is that 
a fair statement of the case ? Those two towns are cherished and sus- 
tained by the whole protecting policy of the British empire, while Kentucky 
can not, and the general government will not, extend a like protection to 
the few Kentucky villages in which the article is made. 

If the cotton-growing consumption could be constitutionally exempted 
from the operation of this bill, it might be fair to exempt it, upon the con- 
dition that foreign manufactures, the proceeds of the sale of cotton abroad, 
should not enter at all into the consumption of the other parts of the 
United States. But such an arrangement as that, if it could be made, 
would probably be objected to by the cotton-growing country itself. 

Second. The second objection to the proposed bill, is, that it will di- 
minish the amount of our exports. It can have no effect upon our exports, 
except those which are sent to Europe. Except tobacco and rice, wo send 
there nothing but the raw materials. The argument is, that Europe will 
not buy of us, if we do not buy of her. The first objection to it is, that 
it calls upon us to look to the question, and to take care of European abil- 
ity in legislating for American interests. Now if, in legislating for their 
interests, they would consider and provide for our ability, the principle of 
reciprocity would enjoin us so to regulate our intercourse with them, as to 

18 



274 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

leave their ability unimpaired. But I have shown that, in the adoption of 
their own policy, their inquiry is strictly limited to a consideration of 
their peculiar interests, without any regard to that of ours. The next re- 
mark I would make is, that the bill only operates upon certain articles of 
European industry, which it is supposed our interest requires us to manufac- 
ture within ourselves ; and although its effect will be to diminish the 
amount of our imports of those articles, it leaves them free to supply us 
with any other produce of their industry. And since the circle of human 
comforts, refinements, and luxuries, is of great extent, Europe will still find 
herself able to purchase from us what she has hitherto done, and to dis- 
charge the debt in some of those objects. If there be any diminution in 
our exports to Europe, it will probably be in the article of cotton to Great 
Britain. I have stated that Britain buys cotton wool to the amount of 
about five millions sterling, and sells to foreign States to the amount of up- 
ward of twenty-one millions and a half. Of this sum, we take a little up- 
ward of a million and a half. The residue, of about twenty millions, she 
must sell to other foreign powers than to the United States. Now their 
market will continue open to her, as much after the j>assage of this bill, as 
before. She will therefore require from us the raw material to supply their 
consumption. But, it is said, she may refuse to purchase from us, and seek 
a supply elsewhere. There can be but little doubt that she now resorts to us, 
because we can supply her more cheaply and better than any other country. 
And it would be unreasonable to suppose that she would cease, from any 
pique toward us, to pursue her own interest. Suppose she was to decline 
purchasing from us. The consequence would be, that she would lose the 
market for the twenty millions sterling, which she now sells other foreign 
powers, or enter it under a disadvantageous competition with us, or with 
other nations, who should obtain their supplies of the raw material from 
us. If there should be any diminution, therefore, in the exportation of 
cotton, it would only be in the proportion of about one and a half of 
twenty ; that is, a little upward of five per centum ; the loss of a market 
for which, abroad, would be fully compensated by the market for the article 
created at home. Lastly, I would observe, that the new application of our 
industry, producing new objects of exportation, and they possessing much 
greater value than in the raw state, we should be, in the end, amply in- 
demnified by their exportation. Already the item in our foreign exports 
of manufactures is considerable ; and we know that our cotton fabrics have 
been recently exported in a large amount to South America, where they 
maintain a successful competition with those of any other country. 

Third. The third objection to the tariff is, that it will diminish our 
navigation. This great interest deserves every encouragement, consistent 
with the paramount interest of agriculture. In the order of nature it is 
secondary to both agriculture and manufactures. Its business is the trans- 
portation of the productions of those two superior branches of industry. 
It can not therefore be expected, that tbey shall be molded or sacrificed to 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 275 

suit its purposes ; but on the contrary, navigation must accommodate itself 
to the actual state of agriculture ami manufactures. If, as I believe, we 
have nearly reached the maximum in value of orr exports of raw produce 
to Europe, the effect hereafter will be, as it respects that branch of our 
trade, if we persevere in the foreign system, to retain our navigation at the 
point which it has now reached. By reducing, indeed, as will probably 
take place, the price of our raw materials, a further quantity of them could 
be exported, and, of course, additional employment might, in that way, be 
given to our tonnage ; but that would be at the expense of the agricultural 
interest. If I am right in supposing that no effect will be produced by 
this measure upon any other branch of our export trade, but that to Eu- 
rope ; that, with regard to that, there will be no sensible diminution of our 
exports ; and that the new direction given to a portion of our industry will 
produce other objects of exportation ; the probability is, that our foreign 
tonnage will be even increased under the operation of this bill. But, if I 
am mistaken in these views, and it should experience any reduction, the in- 
crease in our coasting tonnage, resulting from the greater activity of domes- 
tic exchanges, will more than compensate the injury. Although our navi- 
gation partakes in the general distress of the country, it is less dejn'essed 
than any other of our great interests. The foreign tonnage has been grad- 
ually, though slowly, increasing, since 1818. And our coasting tonnage, 
since 1816, has increased upward of one hundred thousand tons. 

Fourth. It is next contended that the effect of the measure wall be to 
diminish our foreign commerce. The objection assumes, what I have en- 
deavored to controvert, that there will be a reduction in the value of our 
exports. Commerce is an exchange of commodities. Whatever will tend 
to augment the wealth of a nation must increase its capacity to make these 
exchanges. By new productions, or creating new values in the fabricated 
forms which shall be given to old objects of our industry, we shall give to 
commerce a fresh spring, a new aliment. The foreign commerce of the 
country, from causes, some of which I have endeavored to point out, has 
been extended as far as it can be. And I think there can be but little 
doubt that the balance of trade is, and for some time past has been, against 
us. I was surprised to hear the learned gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Webster) rejecting, as a detected and exploded fallacy, the idea of a balance 
of trade. I have not time nor inclination now to discuss that topic. But 
I will observe, that all nations act upon the supposition of the reality of its 
existence, and seek to avoid a trade, the balance of which is unfavorable, 
and to foster that which presents a favorable balance. However the ac- 
count be made up, whatever may be the items of a trade, commodities, fish- 
ing industry, marine labor, the carrying trade, all of which I admit should 
be comprehended, there can be no doubt, I think, that the totality of the 
exchanges of all descriptons, made by one nation with another, or against the 
totality of the exchanges of all other nations together, may be such as to 
present the state of an unfavorable balance with the one or with all. It is 



276 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

true that, in the long run, the measures of these exchanges, that is, the to- 
tality iu value of what is given and of what is received, must be equal to 
each other. But great distress may be felt long before the counterpoise can 
be effected. In the mean time, there will be an export of the precious met- 
als to the deep injury of internal trade, an unfavorable state of exchange, an 
export of public securities, a resort to credit, debt, mortgages. Most of, if 
not all, these circumstances, are believed now to be indicated by our coun- 
try, in its foreign commercial relations. What have we received, for exam- 
ple, for the public stocks sent to England ? Goods. But those stocks are 
our bond, which must be paid. Although the solidity of the credit of the 
English public securities is not surpassed by that of our own, strong as it 
justly is, when have we seen English stocks sold in our market, and regu- 
larly quoted in the prices current, as American stocks are in England ? 
An unfavorable balance with one nation, may be made up by a favorable 
balance with other nations ; but the fact of the existence of that unfavor- 
able balance is strong presumptive evidence against the trade. Commerce 
will regulate itself! Yes, and the extravagance of a spendthrift heir, who 
squanders the rich patrimony which has descended to him, will regulate 
itself ultimately. But it will be a regulation which will exhibit him in the 
end safely confined within the walls of a jail. Commerce will regulate it- 
self! But is it not the duty of wise governments to watch its course, and, 
beforehand, to provide against even distant evils, by prudent legislation 
stimulating the industry of their own people, and checking the policy of 
foreign powers as it operates on them ? The supply, then, of the subjects 
of foreign commerce, no less than the supply of consumption at home, 
requires of us to give a jDortion of our labor such a direction as will 

enable us to produce them. That is the object of the measure under 

consideration, and I can not doubt that, if adopted, it will accomplish its 
object. 

Fifth. The fifth objection to the tariff is, that it will diminish the pub- 
lic revenue, disable us from paying the public debt, and finally compel a 
resort to a system of excise and internal taxation. This objection is found- 
ed upon the supposition that the reduction in the importation of the sub- 
jects, on which the increased duties are to operate, will be such as to pro- 
duce the alleged effect. All this is matter of mere conjecture, and can only 
be determined by experiment. I have very little doubt, with my colleague 
(Mr. Trimble), that the revenue will be increased considerably, for some 
years at least, under the operation of this bill. The diminution in the 
quantity imported will be compensated by the augmentation of the duty. 
In reference to the article of molasses, for example, if the import of it 
should be reduced fifty per centum, the amount of duty collected would be 
the same as it now is. But it will not, in all probability, be reduced by 
any thing like that proportion. And then there are some other articles 
which will continue to be introduced in as large quantities as ever, notwith- 
standing the increase of duty, the object in reference to them being reve- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 277 

nue, and not the encouragement of domestic manufactures. Another cause 
will render the revenue of this year, in particular, much more productive 
than it otherwise would have been; and that is, that large quantities of 
goods have been introduced into the country, in anticipation of the adop- 
tion of this measure. The eagle does not dart a keener gaze upon his in- 
tended prey, than that with which the British manufacturer and merchant 
watches the foreign market, and the course even of our elections as well as 
our legislation. The passage of this bill has been expected ; and all our 
information is that the importations, during this spring have been immense. 
But, further, the measure of our importations is that of our exportations, 
If I am right in supposing that, in future, the amount of these, in the old 
or new forms of the produce of our labor, will not be diminished, but prob- 
ably increased, then the amount of our importations, and consequently of 
our revenue, will not be reduced, but may be extended. If these ideas be 
correct, there will be no inability on the part of government to extinguish 
the public debt. uThe payment of that debt, and the consequent liberation 
of the public resources from the charge of it, is extremely desirable. No 
one is more anxious than I am to see that important object accomplished. 
But I entirely concur with the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Barbour) in 
thinking that no material sacrifice of any of the great interests of the na- 
tion ought to be made to effectuate it. Such is the elastic and accumulat- 
ing nature of our public resources, from the silent augmentation of our 
population, that if, in any given state of the public revenue, we throw our- 
selves upon a couch and go to sleep, we may, after a short time, awake 
with an ability abundantly increased to redeem any reasonable amount of 
public debt with which we may happen to be burdened. The public debt 
of the United States, though nominally larger now than it was in the year 
1791, bears really no sort of discouraging comparison to its amount at that 
time, whatever standard we may choose to adopt to institute the compari- 
son. It was in 1791 about seventy-five millions of dollars. It is now 
about ninety. Then we had a population of about four millions. Now 
we have upward of ten millions. Then we had a revenue short of five 
millions of dollars. Now our revenue exceeds twenty. If we select pop- 
ulation as the standard, our present population is one hundred and fifty 
per centum greater than it was in 1791; if revenue ihat is four times 
more now than at the former period ; while the publi .lebt has increased 
only in a ratio of twenty per centum. A public debt of three hundred 
millions of dollars, at the present day, considering our actual ability, com- 
pounded both of the increase of population and of revenue, would not be 
more onerous now than the debt of seventy-five millions of dollars was, at 
the epoch of 1791, in reference to the same circumstances. -If I am riffht 

, & 

in supposing that, under the operation of the proposed measure, there will 
not be any diminution, but a probable increase of the public revenue, there 
will be no difficulty in defraying the current expenses of government, and 
paying the principal as well as the interest of the public debt, as it becomes 



sj 



278 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

due. Let us, for a moment, hoAvever, indulge the improbable supposition 
of the opponents of the tariff, that there will be a reduction of the reve- 
nue to the extent of the most extravagant calculation which has been made, 
that is to say, to the extent of five millions. That sum deducted, we 
shall still have remaining a revenue of about fifteen millions. The treas- 
ury estimates of the current services of the years 1822, 1823, and 1824, 
exceed, each year, nine millions. The lapse of revolutionary pensions, 
and judicious retrenchments which might be made, without detriment to 
any of the essential establishments of the country, would probably reduce 
them below nine millions. Let us assume that sum, to which add about 
five millions and a half for the interest of the public debt, and the wants 
of government would require a revenue of fourteen and a half millions, 
leaving a surplus of revenue of half a million beyond the public expendi- 
ture. Thus, by a postponement of the payment of the principal of the 
public debt, in which the public creditors would gladly acquiesce, and con- 
fiding, for the means of redeeming it, in the necessary increase of our rev- 
enue from the natural augmentation of our population and consumption, 
we may safely adopt the proposed measure, even if it should be attended 
(which is confidently denied) with the supposed diminution of revenue. 
We shall not, then, have occasion to vary the existing system of taxation ; 
we shall be under no necessity to resort either to direct taxes or to an ex- 
cise. But, suppose the alternative were really forced upon us of continuing 
the foreign system, with its inevitable impoverishment of the country, but 
with the advantage of the present mode of collecting the taxes, or of 
adopting the American system, with its increase of the national wealth, 
but with the disadvantage of an excise, could any one hesitate between 
them ? Customs and an excise agree in the essential particulars, that they 
are both taxes upon consumption, and both are voluntary. They differ 
only in the mode of collection. The office for the collection of one is lo- 
cated on the frontier, and that for the other within the interior. I believe 
it was Mr. Jefferson, who in reply to the boast of a citizen of New York of 
the amount of the public revenue paid by that city, asked who would pay 
it, if the collector's office were removed to Paulus Hook, on the New Jer- 
sey shore? National wealth is the source of all taxation. And, my word 
for it, the people are too intelligent to be deceived by mere names, and not 
to give a decided preference to that system which is based upon their 
wealth and prosperity, rather than to that which is founded upon their 
impoverishment and ruin. 

Sixth. But, according to the opponents of the domestic policy, the pro- 
posed system will force capital and labor into new and reluctant employ- 
ments ; we are not prepared, in consequence of the high price of wages, 
for the successful establishment of manufactures, and we must fail in the 
experiment. We have seen that the existing occupations of our society, 
those of agriculture, commerce, navigation, and the learned professions, are 
overflowing with competitors, and that the want of employment is severely 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 279 

felt. Now what does this bill propose ? To open a new and extensive 
field of business, in which all that choose may enter. There is no com- 
pulsion upon any one to engage in it. An option only is given to indus- 
try, to continue in the present unprofitable pursuits, or to embark in a new 
and promising one. The effect will be, to lessen the competition in the 
old branches of business, and to multiply our resources for increasing our 
comforts, and augmenting the national wealth. The alleged fact of the 
high price of wages is not admitted. The truth is, that no class of society 
suffers more, in the present stagnation of business, than the laboring class. 
That is a necessary effect of the depression of agriculture, the principal 
business of the community. The wages of able-bodied men vary from 
five to eight dollars per month, and such has been the want of employment, \/ 
in some parts of the Union, that instances have not been unfrequent, of 
men working merely for the means of present subsistence. If the wages 
for labor here and in England are compared, they will be found not to be 
essentially different. I agree with the honorable gentleman from Virginia 
that high wages are a proof of national prosperity ; we differ only in the 
means by which that desirable end shall be attained. But, if the fact 
were true, that the wages of labor are high, I deny the correctness of the 
argument founded upon it. The argument assumes, that natural labor is 
the principal element in the business of manufacture. That was the an- 
cient theory. But the valuable inventions and vast improvements in 
machinery which have been made within a iew past years, have produced 
a new era in the arts. The effect of this change, in the powers of produc- 
tion, may be estimated, from what I have already stated in relation to 
England, and to the triumphs of European artificial labor over the natural 
labor of Asia. In considering the fitness of a nation for the establish- 
ment of manufactures, we must no longer limit our views to the state of 
its population, and the price of wages. All circumstances must be re- 
garded, of which that is, perhaps, the least important. Capital, ingenuity i> 
iu the construction, and adroitness in the use of machinery, and the pos- 
session of the raw materials, are those which deserve the greatest consider- 
ation. All these circumstances (except that of capital, of which there is 
no deficiency) exist in our country in an eminent degree, and more than 
counterbalance the disadvantage, if it really existed, of the lower wao-es 
of labor in Great Britain. The dependence upon foreign nations for the 
raw material of any great manufacture, has been considered as a discourag- 
ing fact. The state of our population is peculiarly favorable to the most 
extensive introduction of machinery. "We have no prejudices to combat, 
no persons to drive out of employment. The pamphlet, to which we have 
had occasion so often to refer, in enumerating the causes which have 
brought in England their maunfactures to such a state of perfection, and 
which now enable them, in the opinion of the writer, to defy all competi- 
tion, does not specify, as one of them, low wages. It assigns three : first, 
capital; secondly, extent and costliness of machinery; and, thirdlv, steady 






280 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

and persevering industry. Notwithstanding the concurrence of so many 
iavorable causes, in our country, for the introduction of the aits, we are 
earnestly dissuaded from making the experiment, and our ultimate failure 
is confidently predicted. Why should we fail ? Nations, like men, fail in 
nothing which they boldly attempt, when sustained by virtuous purpose 
and firm resolution. I am not willing to admit this depreciation of Amer- 
ican skill and enterprise. I am not willing to strike before an effort is 
made. All our past history exhorts us to proceed, and inspires us with 
animating hopes of success. Past predictions of our incapacity have failed, 
and present predictions will not be realized. At the commencement of 
this government, we were told that the attempt would be idle to construct 
a marine adequate to the commerce of the country, or even to the business 
of its coasting trade. The founders of our government did not listen to 
these discouraging counsels; and, behold the fruits of their just compre- 
hension of our resources ! Our restrictive policy was denounced, and it 
was foretold that it would utterly disappoint all our expectations. But our 
restrictive policy has been eminently successful ; and the share which our 
navigation now enjoys in the trade with France, and with the British West 
India Islands, attests its victory. What were not the disheartening pre- 
dictions of the opponents of the late war ? Defeat, discomfort, and dis- 
grace, were to be the certain, but not the worst effect of it. Here, again, 
did prophecy prove false ; and the energies of our country, and the valor 
and the patriotism of our people, carried us gloriously through the war. 
We are now, and ever will be, essentially an agricultural people. Without 
a material change in the fixed habits of the country, the friends of this 
measure desire to draw to it, as a powerful auxiliary to its industry, the 
manufacturing arts. The difference between a nation with and without the 
arts, may be conceived by the difference between a keel-boat and a steam- 
boat, combating the rapid torrent of the Mississippi. How slow does the 
former ascend, hugging the sinuosities of the shore, pushed on by her hardy 
and exposed ciew, now throwing themselves in vigorous concert on their 
oars, and then seizing the peudent boughs of overhanging trees : she seems 
hardly to move ; and her scanty cargo is scarcely worth the transportation ! 
With what ease is she not passed by the steamboat, laden with the riches 
of all quarters of the world, with a crew of gay, cheerful, and protected 
passengers, now dashing into the midst of the current, or gliding through 
the eddies near the shore ! Nature herself seems to survey, with astonish- 
ment, the passing wonder, and, in silent submission, reluctantly to own the 
magnificent triumphs, in her own vast dominion, of Ftd ton's immortal genius. 
Seventh. But it is said that, wherever there is a concurrence of favor- 
able circumstances, manufactures will arise of themselves, without pro- 
tection ; and that we should not disturb the natural progress of industry, 
hut leave things to themselves. If all nations would modify their policy 
on this axiom, perhaps it would be better for the common good of the 
whole. Even then, in consequence of natural advantages and a greater 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 281 

advance in civilization and in the arts, some nations would enjoy a state of 
much higher prosperity than others. But there is no universal Legislation. 
The globe is divided into different communities, each seeking- to appro- 
priate to itself all the advantages it can, without reference to the prosperity 
of others. Whether this is right or not, it has always been, and ever will 
be the case. Perhaps the care of the interests of one people is sufficient 
for all the wisdom of one legislature ; and that it is among nations as 
among individuals, that the happiness of the whole is best secured by each 
attending to its own peculiar interests. The proposition to be maintained 
by our adversaries is, that manufactures, without protection, Avill in due 
time spring up in our country, and sustain themselves, in a competition 
with foreign fabrics, however advanced the arts, and whatever the degree 
of protection may be in foreign countries. Now I contend, that this prop- 
osition is refuted by all experience, ancient and modern, and in every 
country. If I am ashed, why unprotected industry should not succeed in 
a struggle with protected industry, I answer, the fact has ever been so, V 
and that is sufficient ; I reply, that uniform experience evinces that it 
can not succeed in such an unequal contest, and that is sufficient. If we 
speculate on the causes of this universal truth, we may differ about them. 
Still the indisputable fact remains. And we should be as unwise in not 
availing: ourselves of the guide which it furnishes, as a man would be, who 
should refuse to bask in the rays of the sun, because he could not agree 
with Judo-e Woodward as to the nature of the substance of that planet, 
to which we are indebted for heat and light. If I were to attempt to par- 
ticularize the causes which prevent the success of the manufacturing arts, 
without protection, I should say that they are, first, the obduracy of fixed \- 
habits. No nation, no individual, will easily change an established course 
of business, even if it be unprofitable ; and least of all is an agricultural 
people prone to innovation. With what reluctance do they adopt im- 
provements in the instruments of husbandry, or in modes of cultivation ! 
If the farmer makes a good crop, and sells it badly ; or makes a short 
crop ; buoyed up by hope he perseveres, and trusts that a favorable change 
of the market, or of the seasons, will enable him, in the succeeding year, 
to repair the misfortunes of the past. Secondly, the uncertainty, fluctua-t 
tion, and unsteadiness, of the home market, when liable to an unrestricted 
influx of fabrics from all foreign nations ; and, thirdly, the superior advance 
of skill, and amount of capital, which foreign nations have obtained, by the 
protection of their own industry. From the latter or from other causes, 
the unprotected manufactures of a country are exposed to the danger 
of being crushed in their infancy, either by the design or from the neces- 
sities of foreign manufacturers. Gentlemen are incredulous as to the at- 
tempts of foreign manufacturers to accomplish the destruction of ours. 
Why should they not make such attempts ? If the Scottish manufacturer, 
by surcharging our market, in one 'year, with the article of cotton bag- 
ging, for example, should so reduce the price as to discourage and put 



282 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

down the home manufacture, he would secure to himself the monopoly 
of the supply. And now, having the exclusive possession of the market, 
perhaps for a long term of years, he might be more than indemnified for 
his first loss, in the subsequent rise in the price of the article. What 
have we not seen under our own eyes ? The competition for the trans- 
jportation of the mail, between this place and Baltimore, so excited, that to 
obtain it an individual offered, at great loss, to carry it a whole year for 
one dollar ! His calculation no doubt, was, that by driving his competitor 
off the road, and securing to himself the carriage of the mail, he would 
be afterward able to repair his original loss by new contracts with the de- 
partment. But the necessities of foreign manufacturers, without imputing 
to them any sinister design, may oblige them to throw into our markets 
the fabrics which have accumulated on their hands, in consequence of ob- 
struction in the ordinary vents, or from over-calculation ; and the forced 
sales, at losing prices, may prostrate our establishments. From this view 
of the subject, it follows, that, if we would place the industry of our coun- 
try upon a solid and unshakable foundation, we must adopt the protecting 
policy, which has everywhere succeeded, and reject that which would 
abandon it, which has everywhere failed. 

Eighth. But if the policy of protection be wise, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Barbour) has made some ingenious calculations to prove that 
the measure of protection, already extended, has been sufficiently great. 
With some few exceptions, the existing duties, of which he has made an 
estimate, were laid with the object of revenue, and without reference to 
that of encouragement to domestic industry; and although it is admitted 
that the incidental effect of duties, so laid, is to promote our manufactures, 
yet if it falls short of competent protection, the duties might as well not 
have been imposed, with reference to that purpose. A moderate addition 
may acomplish this desirable end ; and the proposed tariff is believed to 
have this character. 

Ninth. The prohibitory policy, it is confidently asserted, is condemned 
by the wisdom of Europe, and by her most enlightened statesmen. Is this 
the fact ? We call upon gentlemen to show in what instance a nation that 
has enjoyed its benefits has surrendered it. [Here Mr. Barbour rose, 
Mr. Clay giving way, and said, that England had departed from it in the 
China trade, in allowing us to trade with her East India possessions, and 
in tolerating our navigation to her West India colonies.] With respect to 
the trade to China, the whole amount of what England has done, is, to 
modify the monopoly of the East India Company, in behalf of one, 
and a small part of her subjects, to increase the commerce of another 
and the greater portion of them. The abolition of the restriction, there- 
fore, operates altogether among the subjects of England ; and does not 
touch at all the interests of foreign powers. The toleration of our com- 
merce to British India, is for the sake of the specie, with which we 
mainly cany on that commerce, and which, having performed its circuit, 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 283 

returns to Great Britain in exchange for British manufactures. The relax- 
ation from the colonial policy, in the instance of our trade and navigation 
with the West Indies, is a most unfortunate example for the honorahle 
gentleman ; for in it is an illustrious proof of the success of our restrictive 
policy, when resolutely adhered to. Great Britain had prescribed the 
terms on which we were to be graciously allowed to carry on that trade. 
The effect of her regulations was, to exclude our navigation altogether, 
and a complete monopoly, on the part of the British navigation, was se- 
cured. We forbade it, unless our vessels should be allowed a perfect 
reciprocity. Great Britain stood out a long time, but finally yielded, and 
our navigation nosv fairly shares with hers in the trade. Have gentlemen 
no other to exhibit than these trivial relaxations from the prohibitory policy, 
which do not amount to a drop iu the bucket, to prove its abandonment 
by Great Britain ? Let them show us that her laws are repealed which 
prohibit the introduction of our flour and provisions ; of French silks, laces, 
porcelain, manufactures of bronze, mirrors, woolens; and of the manu- 
factures of all other natious ; and then, we may be ready to allow that 
Great Britain has really abolished her prohibitory policy. We find there, 
on the contrary, that system of policy in full and rigorous operation, and 
a most curiously interwoven system it is, as she enforces it. She begins 
by protecting all parts of her immense dominions against foreign nations. 
She then protects the parent country against the colonies ; and, finally, 
one part of the parent country against another. The sagacity of Scotch 
industry has carried the process of distillation to a perfection which would 
place the art in England on a fooling of disadvantageous competition, and 
English distillation has been protected accordingly. But suppose it were 
even true that Great Britain had abolished all restrictions upon trade, and 
allowed the freest introduction of the produce of foreign labor, would that 
prove it unwise for us to adopt the protecting system ? The object of pro- 
tection is the establishment and perfection of the arts. In England it has 
accomplished its purpose, fulfilled its end. If she has not carried every 
branch of manufacture to the same high state of perfection that any other 
nation has, she has succeeded in so many, that she may safely challenge 
the most unshackled competition in exchanges. It is upon this very ground x 
that many of her writers recommend an abandonment of the prohibitory 
system. It is to give greater scope to British industry and enterprise. It 
is upon the same selfish principle. The object of the most perfect freedom 
of trade, with such a nation as Britain, and of the most rigorous system 
of prohibition, with a nation whose arts are in their infancy, may both be 
precisely the same. In both cases, it is to give greater expansion to native 
industry. They only differ in the theaters of their operation. The aboli- 
tion of the restrictive system by Britain, if by it she could prevail upon 
other nations to imitate her example, would have the effect of extending 
the consumption of British produce in other countries, where her writers 
boldly affirm it could maintain a fearless competition with the produce of 



284 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

native labor. The adoption of the restrictive system, on the part of the 
United States, by excluding the produce of foreign labor, would extend the 
consumption of American produce, unable, in the infancy and unprotected 
state of the arts, to sustain a competition with foreign fabrics. Let our 
arts breathe under the shade of protection ; let them be perfected, as they 
are in England, and we shall then be ready, as England now is said to be, 
to put aside protection, and to enter upon the freest exchanges. To what 
other cause, than to their whole prohibitory policy, can you ascribe British 
prosperity ? It will not do to assign it to that of her antiquity ; for France 
is no less ancient ; though much less rich and powerful, in proportion to 
the population and natural advantages of France. Ilallam, a sensible and 
highly approved writer on the middle ages, assigns the revival of the pros- 
perity of the north of Europe to the success of the woolen manufactories 
of Flanders, and the commerce of which their fabrics became the subject; 
and the commencement of that of England to the establishment of similar 
manufactures there under the Edwards, aud to the prohibitions which began 
about the same time. As to the poor-rates, the theme of so much reproach 
without England, and of so much regret within it, among her speculative 
writers, the system was a strong proof, no less of her unbounded wealth 
than of her pauperism. What other nation can dispense, in the form 
of regulated charity, the enormous sum, I believe, of ten or twelve 
millions sterling ? The number of British paupers was the result of 
pressing the principle of population to its utmost limits, by her protect- 
ing policy, in the creation of wealth, and in placing the rest of the world 
under tribute to her industry. Doubtless the condition of England 
would be better, without paupers, if in other respects it remained the 
same. But in her actual circumstances, the poor system has the salutary 
effect of an equalizing corrective of the tendency to the concentration of 
riches, produced by the genius of her political institutions and by her pro- 
hibitory system. 

But is it true, that England is convinced of the impolicy of the prohib- 
itory system, and desirous to abandon it ? What proof have we to that 
effect ? We are asked to reject the evidence deducible from the settled 
and steady practice of England, aud to take lessons in a school of philo- 
sophical writers, whose visionary theories are nowhere adopted ; or, if 
adopted, bring with them inevitable distress, impoverishment, and ruin. 
Let us hear the testimony of an illustrious personage, entitled to the 
greatest attention, because he speaks after the full experiment of the un- 
restrictive system made in his own empire. I hope I shall give no offense 
in quoting from a publication issued from "the mint of Philadelphia ;" 
from a work of Mr. Carey, of whom I seize, with great pleasure, the oc- 
casion to say, that he merits the public gratitude, for the disinterested dili- 
gence with which he has collected a large mass of highly useful facts, and 
for the clear and convincing reasoning with which he generally illustrates 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 285 

them. The Emperor of Russia, iu March, 1822, after about two years' 
trial of the free system, says, through Couut Nesselrode : 

" To produce happy effects, the principles of commercial freedom must be 
generally adopted. The state which adopts, while others reject them, must 
condemn its own industry and commerce to pay a ruinous tribute to those of 
other countries. 

"From a circulation exempt from restraint, and the facility afforded by recip- 
rocal exchanges, almost all the governments at first resolved to seek the means 
of repairing the evil which Europe had been doomed to suffer ; but experience, 
and more correct calculations, because they were made from certain data, and 
upon the results already known of the peace that had just taken place, forced 
them soon to adhere to the prohibitory system. 

" England preserved hers. Austria remained faithful to the rule she had laid 
down, to guard herself against the rivalship of foreign industry. France, with 
the same views, adopted the most rigorous measures of precaution. And Prus- 
sia published a new tariff in October last, which proves that she found it im- 
possible not to follow the example of the rest of Europe. 

" In proportion as the prohibitory system is extended and rendered perfect 
in other countries, that state which pursues the contrary system, makes, from 
day to day, sacrifices more extensive and more considerable. * * * It 
offers a continual encouragement to the manufactures of other countries, and 
its own manufactures perish in the struggle which they are, as yet, unable to 
maintain. 

" It is with the most lively feelings ef regret we acknowledge it is our own 
proper experience which enables us to trace this picture. The evils which it 
details have been realized in Russia and Poland, since the conclusion of the act 
of the 7th and 19th of December, 1818. Agriculture without a market, indus- 
try without protection, languish and decline. Specie is exported, and the most solid 
commercial houses are shaken. The public prosperity would soon feel the wound 
inflicted on private fortunes, if new regulations did not promptly change the 
actual state of affairs. 

" Events have proved, that our agriculture and our commerce, as well as our 
manufacturing industry, are not only paralyzed, but brought to the brink of 
ruin." 

The example of Spain has been properly referred to, as affording a strik- 
ing proof of the calamities which attend a state that abandons the care of 
its own internal industry. Her prosperity was the greatest when the arts, 
brought there by the Moors, flourished most in that kingdom. Then she 
received from England her wool, and returned it in the manufactured state ; 
and then England was least prosperous. The two nations have reversed 
conditions. Spain, after the discovery of America, yielding to an inordinate 
passion for the gold of the Indies, sought in their mines that wealth which 
might have been better created at home. Can the remarkable difference 
in the state of the prosperity of the two countries be otherwise explained, 
than by the opposite systems which they pursued ? England, by a sedu- 
lous attention to her home industry, supplied the means of an advantageous 



286 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY. 

commerce with her colonies. Spain, by an utter neglect of lier domestic 
resources, confided altogether in those which she derived from her colonies, 
and presents an instance of the greatest adversity. Her colonies were in- 
finitely more valuable than those of England ; and, if she had adopted a 
similar policy, is it unreasonable to suppose that, in wealth and power, she 
would have surpassed that of England? I think the honorable gentleman 
from Virginia does great injustice to the Catholic religion, in specifying 
th;it as one of the leading causes of the decline of Spain. It is a religion 
entitled to great respect ; and there is nothing in its character incompatible 
with the highest degree of national prosperity. Is not France, the most 
polished, in many other respects the most distinguished state, of Christen- 
dom, Catholic ? Is not Flanders, the most populous part of Europe, also 
Catholic ? Are the Catholic parts of Switzerland and of Germany less 
prosperous than those which are Protestant ? 

Tenth. The next objection of the honorable gentleman from Virginia 
which I shall briefly notice is, that the manufacturing system is adverse 
to the genius of our government, in its tendency to the accumulation of 
large capitals in a few hands ; in the corruption of the public morals, 
which is alleged to be incident to it ; and in the consequent danger to the 
public liberty. The first part of the objection would apply to every lu- 
crative business, to commerce, to planting, and to the learned professions. 
Would the gentleman introduce the system of Lycurgus ? If his principle 
be correct, it should be extended to any and every vocation which had a 
similar tendency. The enormous fortunes in our country — the nabobs of 
the land — have been chiefly made by the profitable pursuit of that foreign 
commerce, in more propitious times, which the honorable gentleman would 
so carefully cherish. Immense estates have also been made in the South. 
The dependents are, perhaps, not more numerous upon that wealth which 
is accumulated in manufactures than they are upon that which is acquired 
by commerce and by agriculture. We may safely confide in the laws of 
distributions, and in the absence of the rule of primogeniture, for the dis- 
sipation, perhaps too rapid, of large fortunes. What has become of those 
which were held two or three generations back in Virginia? Many of the 
descendants of the ancient aristocracy, as it was called, of that State, are 
now in the most indigent condition. The best security against the de- 
moralization of society is the constant and profitable employment of its 
members. The greatest danger to public liberty is from idleness and vice. 
If manufactures form cities, so does commerce. And the disorders and 
violence which proceed from the contagion of the passions, are as fre- 
quent in one description of those communities as in the other. There 
is no doubt but that the yeomanry of a country is the safest depository of 
public liberty. In all time to come, and under any probable direction of 
the labor of our population, the agricultural class must be much the 
most numerous and powerful, and will ever retain, as it ought to retain, 
a preponderating influence in our councils. The extent and the fertility 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 287 

of our lands constitute an adequate security against an excess in manufac- 
tures, and also against oppression, on the part of capitalists, toward the 
laboring- portions of the community. 

Eleventh. The last objection, with a notice of which I shall trouble the 
committee, is, that the Constitution does not authorize the passage of the 
bill. The gentleman from Virginia does not assert, indeed, that it is in- 
consistent with the express provisions of that instrument, but he thinks it 
incompatible with the spirit of the Constitution. If we attempt to provide 
for the internal improvement of the country, the Constitution, according to 
some gentlemen, stands in our way. If we attempt to protect American 
industry against foreign policy and the rivalry of foreign industry, the Con- 
stitution presents an insuperable obstacle. This Constitution must be a 
most singular instrument ! It seems to be made for any other people than 
our own. Its action is altogether foreign. Congress has power to lay 
duties aud in:mosts, under no other limitation whatever than that of their 
being uniform throughout the United States. But they can only be im- 
posed, according to the honorable gentleman, for the sole purpose of 
revenue. This is a restriction which we do not find in the Constitution. 
No doubt revenue was a principal object with the trainers of the Constitu- 
tion in investing Congress with the power. But, in executing it, may not the 
duties and imposts be so laid as to secure domestic interests ? Or is Con- 
gress denied all discretion as to the amount or the distribution of the duties 
and imposts ? 

The gentleman from Virginia has, however, entirely mistaken the clause 
of the Constitution on which we rely. It is that whicli gives to Congress 
the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. The grant is 
plenary, without any limitation whatever, and includes the whole power 
of regulation, of which the subject to be regulated is susceptible. It is as 
full and complete a grant of the power as that is to declare war. What is 
a regulation of commerce ? It implies the admission or exclusion of the 
object of it, and the terms. Under this power some articles, by the exist- 
ing laws, are admitted freely ; others are subjected to duties so high as to 
amount to their prohibition, and various rates of duties are applied to 
others. Under this power, laws of total non-intercourse with some nations, 
embargoes, producing an entire cessation of commerce with all foreign 
countries have been, from time to time, passed. These laws, I have no 
doubt, met with the entire approbation of the gentleman from Virginia. 
[Mr. Barbour said that he was not in Congress.] Wherever the gentle- 
man was, whether on his farm or in the pursuit of that profession of which 
he is an ornament, I have no doubt that he gave his zealous support to the 
laws referred to. 

The principle of the system under consideration has the sanction of 
some of the best and wisest men, in all ages, in foreign countries as well 
as in our own — of the Edwards, of Henry the Great, of Elizabeth, of the 
Colberts, abroad ; of our Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, at home. 



288 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

But it comes recommended to us by a higher authority than any of these 
illustrious as they unquestionably are — by the master-spirit of the age — 
that extraordinary man, who has thrown the Alexanders and the Caesars 
infinitely further behind him than they stood in advance of the most 
eminent of their predecessors — that singular man who, whether he was 
seated on his imperial throne, deciding the fate of nations and allotting 
kingdoms to the members of his family, with the same composure, if not 
with the same affection, as that with which a Virginia father divides his 
plantations among his children, or on the miserable rock of St. Helena, to 
which he was condemned by the cruelty and the injustice of his unworthy 
victors, is equally an object of the most intense admiration. He appears 
to have comprehended, with the rapidity of intuition, the true interests of 
a State, and to have been able, by the turn of a single expression, to de- 
velop the secret springs of the policy of cabinets. We find that Las 
Casas reports bim to have said : 

" He opposed the principles of economists, which he said were correct in 
theory, though erroneous in their application. The political constitution 
of different States, continued he, must render these principles defective ; 
local circumstances continually call for deviations from their uniformity. 
Duties, he said, which were so severely condemned by political economists, 
should not, it is true, be an object to the treasury ; they should be the 
guaranty and protection of a nation, and should correspond with the nature 
and the objects of its trade. Holland, which is destitute of productions 
and manufactures, and which has a trade only of transit and commission, 
should be free of all fetters and barriers. France, on the contrary, which is 
rich in every sort of production and manufactures, should incessantly guard 
against the importations of a rival, who might still continue superior to her, 
and also against the cupidity, egotism, and indifference of mere brokers. 

" I have not fallen into the error of modern systematizers," said the 
emperor, " who imagine that all the wisdom of nations is centred in them- 
selves. Experience is the true wisdom of nations. And what does all the 
reasoning of economists amount to ? They incessantly extol the prosperity 
of England, and hold her up as our model ; but the custom-house system 
is more burdensome and arbitrary in England than in any other country. 
They also condemn prohibitions ; yet it was England set the example of 
prohibitions ; and they are in fact necessary with regard to certain objects. 
Duties can not adequately supply the place of prohibitions; there will 
always be found means to defeat the object of the legislator. In France 
we are still very far behind on these delicate points, which are still un- 
perceived or ill understood by the mass of society. Yet, what advancement 
have we now made ; what correctness of ideas has been introduced by my 
gradual classification of agriculture, industry, and trade ; objects so distinct 
in themselves, and which present so great and positive a graduation ! 

Y" First. Agriculture ; the soul, the first basis, of the empire. 
" Second. Industry ; the comfort and happiness of the population. 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 289 

" Third. Foreign Trade ; the superabundance, the proper application, of 
the surplus of agriculture and industry. 

" Agriculture was continually improved during the whole course of the 
revolution. Foreigners thought it ruined in France. In 1814, however, 
the English were compelled to admit that we had little or nothing to learn 
from them. 

" Industry or manufactures, and internal trade, made immense progress 
during my reign. The application of chemistry to the manufactures, caused 
them to advance with giant strides. I gave an impulse, the effects of which 
extended throughout Europe. 

" Foreign trade, which, in its results, is infinitely inferior to agriculture, 
was an object of subordinate importance in my mind. Foreign trade is 
made for agriculture and home industry, and not the two latter for the 
former. The interests of these three fundamental cases are diverging and 
frequently conflicting. I always promoted them in their natural grada- 
tion, but I could not and ought not to have ranked them all on an equality. 
Time will unfold what I have done, the national resources which I created, 
and the emancipation from the English which I brought about. We have 
now the secret of the commercial treaty of 1783. France still exclaims 
against its author ; but the English demanded it on pain of resuming the 
war. They wished to do the same after the treaty of Amiens, but I was 
then all-powerful ; I was a hundred cubits high. I replied, that if they 
were in possession of the heights of Montmartre I would still refuse to 
sign the treaty. These words were echoed through Europe. 

" The English will now impose some such treaty on France, at least, if 
popular clamor aud the opposition of the mass of the nation, do not force 
them to draw back. This thraldom would be an additional disgrace in the 
eyes of that nation, which is now beginning to acquire a just perception 
of her own interests. 

" When I came to the head of the government, the American ships, 
which were permitted to enter our ports on the score of their neutrality, 
brought us raw materials, and had the impudence to sail from France with- 
out freight, for the purpose of taking in cargoes of English goods in Lon- 
don. They, moreover, had the insolence to make their payments, when 
they had any to make, by giving bills on persons in London. Hence the 
vast profits reaped by the English manufacturers and brokers, entirely to 
our prejudice. I made a law that no American should import goods to, 
any amount, without immediately exporting their exact equivalent. A 
loud outcry was raised against this : it was said that I had ruined trade. 
But what was the consequence ? Notwithstanding the closing of my ports 
and in spite of the English who ruled the seas, the Americans returned and 
submitted to my regulations. What might I not have done under more 
favorable circumstances 

" Thus I naturalized in France the manufacture of cotton, which in- 
cludes, 

19 



290 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

" First, spun cotton. We did not previously spin it ourselves ; the En- 
glish supplied us with it, as a sort of favor. 

" Secondly, the web. We did not yet make it ; it came to us from 
abroad. 

" Thirdly, the printing. This was the only part of the manufacture that 
we performed ourselves. I wished to naturalize the two first branches ; 
and I proposed to the Council of State, that their importation should be 
prohibited. This excited great alarm. I sent for Oberkamp, and I con- 
versed with him a long time. I learned from him, that this prohibition 
would doubtless produce a shock, but that, after a year or two of persever- 
ance, it would prove a triumph, whence we should derive immense advan- 
tages. Then I issued my decree in spite of all ; this was a true piece of 
statesmanship. 

" I at first confined myself merely to prohibiting the web ; then I extend- 
ed the prohibition to spun cotton ; and we now possess, within ourselves, 
the three branches of the cotton manufacture, to the great benefit of our 
population, and the injury and regret of the English; which proves that, 
in civil government, as well as in war, decision of character is often indis- 
pensable to success." 

I will trouble the committee with only one other quotation, which I shall 
make from Lowe ; and from hearing which, the committee must share with 
me in the mortification which I felt on perusing it. That author says, " It 
is now above forty years since the United States of America were definite- 
ly separated from us, and since, their situation has afforded a proof that the 
benefit of mercantile intercourse may be retained, in all its extent, without 
the care of governing, or the expense of defending, these once regretted 
provinces." Is there not too much truth in this observation ? By adher- 
ing to the foreign policy, which I have been discussing, do we not remain 
essentially British, in every thing but the form of our government ? Are 
not our interests, our industry, our commerce, so modified as to swell 
British pride, and to increase British power ? 

Mr. Chairman, our confederacy comprehends, within its vast limits, great 
diversity of interests : agricultural, planting, farming, commercial, navigat- 
ing, fishing, manufacturing. No one of these interests is felt in the same 
degree, and cherished with the same solicitude, throughout all parts of the 
Union. Some of them are peculiar to particular sections of our common 
country. But all these great interests are confided to the protection of 
one government — to the fate of one ship — and a most gallant ship it is, 
with a noble crew. If we prosper, and are happy, protection must be ex- 
tended to all ; it is due to all. It is the great principle on which obe- 
dience is demanded from all. If our essential interests can not find pro- 
tection from our own government against the policy of foreign powers, 
where are they to get it? We did not unite for sacrifice, but for preservation. 
The inquiry should be, in reference to the great interests of every sec 
tion of the Union (I speak not of minute subdivisions), what would be done 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. # 291 

for those interests if that section stood alone and separated from the resi- 
due of the republic ? If the promotion of those interests would not in- 
juriously affect any other section, then every thing should be done for 
them, which would be done if it formed a distinct government. If they 
come into absolute collision with the interests of another section, a recon- 
ciliation, if possible, should be attempted, by mutual concession, so as to 
avoid a sacrifice of the prosperity of either to that of the other. In such 
a case, all should not be done for one which would be done, if it were 
separated and independent, but something ; and, in devising the measure, 
the good of each part and of the whole, should be carefully consulted. 
This is the only mode by which we can preserve, in full vigor, the harmony 
of the whole Union. The South entertains one opinion, and imagines that 
a modification of the existing policy of the country, for the protection of 
American industry, involves the ruin of the South. The North, the East, 
the West, hold the opposite opinion, and feel and contemplate, in a longer 
adherence to the foreign policy, as it now exists, their utter destruction. 
Is it true, that the interests of these great sections of our country are ir- 
reconcilable with each other ? Are we reduced to the sad and afflicting 
dilemma of determining which shall fall a victim to the prosperity of the 
other ? Happily, I think, there is no such distressing alternative. If the 
North, the West, and the East, formed an independent State, unassociated 
with the South, can there be a doubt that the restrictive system would be 
carried to the point of prohibition of every foreign fabric of which they 
produce the raw material, and which they could manufacture ? Such 
would be their policy, if they stood alone ; but they are fortunately con- 
nected with the South, which believes its interests to require a free admis- 
sion of foreign manufactures. Here then is a case for mutual concession, 
for fair compromise. The bill under consideration presents this compro- 
mise. It is a medium between the absolute exclusion and the unrestricted 
admission of the produce of foreign industry. It sacrifices the interest of 
neither section to that of the other ; neither, it is true, gets all that it 
wants, nor is subject to all that it fears. But it has been said that the 
South obtains nothing in this compromise. Does it lose any thing ? is the 
first question. I have endeavored to prove that it does not, by showing 
that a mere transfer is effected in the source of the supply of its consump- 
tion from Europe to America ; and that the loss, whatever it may be, of 
the sale of its great staple in Europe, is compensated by the new market 
created in America. But does the South really gain nothing in this com- 
promise ? The consumption of the other sections, though somewhat re- 
stricted, is still left open by this bill, to foreign fabrics purchased by 
southern staples. So far its operation is beneficial to the South, and pre- 
judicial to the industry of the other sections, and that is the point of 
mutual concession. The South will also gain by the extended consump- 
tion of its great staple, produced by an increased capacity to consume it 
in consequence of the establishment of the home market. But the South 



292 t SrEECHES OF henry clay. 

can not exert its industry and enterprise in the business of manufactures ! 
Why not ? The difficulties, if not exaggerated, are artificial, and may, 
therefore, be surmounted. But can the other sections embark in the 
planting occupations of the South ? The obstructions which forbid them 
are natural, created by the immutable laws of God, and, therefore, un- 
conquerable. 

Other and animating considerations invite us to adopt the policy of this 
system. Its importance, in connection with the general defense in time Oi 
war, can not fail to be duly estimated. Need I recall to our painful recol- 
lection the sufferings, for the want of an adequate supply of absolute nec- 
essaries, to which the defenders of their country's rights and our entire 
population, were subjected during the late war ? Or to remind the com- 
mittee of the great advantage of a steady and unfailing source of supply, 
unaffected alike in war and in peace ? Its importance, in reference to the 
stability of our Union, that paramount and greatest of all our interests, 
can not fail warmly to recommend it, or at least to conciliate the forbear- 
ance of every patriot bosom. Now our people present the spectacle of a 
vast assemblage of jealous rivals, all eagerly rushing to the sea-board, 
jostling each other in their way, to hurry off to glutted foreign markets 
the perishable produce of their labor. The tendency of that policy, in 
conformity to which this bill is prepared, is to transform these competitors 
into friends and mutual customers ; and, by the reciprocal exchanges of their 
respective productions, to place the confederacy upon the most solid of all 
foundations, the basis of common interest. And is not government called 
upon, by every stimulating motive, to adapt its policy to the actual condi- 
tion and extended growth of our great republic ? At the commencement 
of our Constitution, almost the whole population of the United States was 
confined between the Alleghany mountains and the Atlantic ocean. Since 
that epoch, the western part of New York, of Pennsylvania, of Virginia, 
all the western States and Territories, have been principally peopled. Prior 
to that period we had scarcely any interior. An interior has sprung up, 
as it were by enchantment, and along with it new interests and new rela- 
tions, requiring the parental protection of governmeut. Our policy should 
be modified accordingly, so as to comprehend all, and sacrifice none. And 
are we not encouraged by the success of past experience, in respect to the 
only article which has been adequately protected ? Already have the pre- 
dictions and the friends of the American system, in even a shorter time 
than their most sanguine hopes could have anticipated, been completely 
realized in regard to that article ; and consumption is now better and more 
cheaply supplied with coarse cottons, than it was under the prevalence of 
the foreign system. 

Even if the benefits of the policy were limited to certain sections of our 
country, would it not be satisfactory to behold American industry, wher- 
ever situated, active, animated, and thrifty, rather than persevere in a 
course which renders us subservient to foreign industry ? But these ben- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 293 

efits are twofold, direct, and collateral, and, in the one shape or the other, 
they will diffuse themselves throughout the Union. All parts of the 
Union will participate, more or less, in both. As to the direct benefit, it 
is probable that the North and the East will enjoy the largest share. But 
the West and the South will also participate in them. Philadelphia, Bal- 
timore, and Richmond, will divide with the northern capitals the business 
of manufacturing. The latter city unites more advantages for its success- 
ful prosecution than any other place I know, Zanesville, in Ohio, only ex- 
cepted. And where the direct benefit does not accrue, that will be enjoyed 
of supplying the raw material and provisions for the consumption of 
artisans. Is it not most desirable to put at rest and prevent the annual 
recurrence of this unpleasaut subject, so well fitted, by the various interests 
to which it appeals, to excite irritation and to produce discontent ? Can 
that be effected by its rejection ? Behold the mass of petitions which lie 
on our table, earnestly and auxiously entreating the protecting interposition 
of Congress against the ruinous policy which we are pursuing. Will 
these petitioners, comprehending all orders of society, entire States and 
communities, public companies and private individuals, spontaneously as- 
sembling, cease in their humble prayers by your lending a deaf ear ? Can 
you expect that these petitioners and others, in countless numbers, that 
will, if you delay the passage of this bill, supplicate your mercy, should 
contemplate their substance gradually withdraw to foreign countries, their 
ruin slow, but certain and as inevitable as death itself, without one expiring 
effort ? You think the measure injurious to you ; we believe our preserva- 
tion depends upon its adoption. Our convictions, mutually honest, are 
equally strong. What is to be done ? I invoke that saving spirit of mu- 
tual concession under which our blessed Constitution was formed, and 
under which alone it can be happily administered. I appeal to the South 
—to the high-minded, generous, and patriotic South — with which I have 
so often co-operated, in attempting to sustain the honor and to vindicate the 
rights of our country. Should it not offer, upon the altar of the public 
good, some sacrifice of its peculiar opinions ? Of Avhat does it complain ? 
A possible temporary enhancement in the objects of consumption. Of 
what do we complain ? A total incapacity, produced by the foreign policy, 
to purchase, at any price, necessary foreign objects of consumption. In 
such an alternative, inconvenient only to it, ruinous to us, can we expect 
too much from southern magnanimity ? The just and confident expecta- 
tion of the passage of this bill has flooded the country with recent import- 
ations of foreign fabrics. If it should not pass, they will complete the 
work of destruction of our domestic industry. If it should pass, they will 
prevent any considerable rise in the price of foreign commodities, until 
our own industry shall be able to supply competent substitutes. 

To the friends of the tariff I would also anxiously appeal. Every ar- 
rangement of its provisions does not suit each of you ; you desire some 
further alterations ; you would make it perfect. You want what you will 



294 SPEECHES OF HENBY CLAY. 

never get. Nothing human is perfect. And I have seen, with great sur- 
prise, a piece signed by a member of Congress, published in the " National 
Intelligencer," stating that this bill must be rejected, and a judicious tariff 
brought in as its substitute. A judicious tariff! No member of Congress 
could have signed that piece ; or, if he did, the public ought not to be 
deceived. If this bill do not pass, unquestionably no other can pass at 
this session, or probably during this Congress. And who will go home 
and say that he rejected all the benefits of this bill, because molasses has 
been subjected to the enormous additional duty of five cents per gallon ? 
I call, therefore, upon the friends of the American policy, to yield some- 
what of their own peculiar wishes, and not to reject the practicable in the 
idle pursuit after the unattainable. Let us imitate the illustrious example 
of the framers of the Constitution, and always remembering that whatever 
springs from man partakes of his imperfections, depend upon experience 
to suggest, in future, the necessary amendments. 

We have had great difficulties to encounter. First, the splendid talents 
which are arrayed in this House against us. Second, we are opposed by 
the rich and powerful in the land. Third, the executive government, if 
any, affords us but a cold and equivocal, support. Fourth, the importing 
and navigating interest, I verily believe from misconception, are adverse to 
us. Fifth, the British factors and the British influence are inimical to our 
success. Sixth, long-established habits and prejudices oppose us. Sev- 
enth, the reviewers and literary speculators, foreign and domestic. And, 
lastly, the leading presses of the country, including the influence of that 
which is established in this city, and sustained by the public purse. 

From some of these, or other causes, the bill may be postponed, thwarted, 
defeated. But the cause is the cause of the country, and it must and will 
prevail. It is founded in the interests and affections of the people. It is 
as native as the granite deeply imbosomed in our mountains. And, in con- 
clusion, I would pray God, in his infinite mercy, to avert from our country 
the evils which are impending over it, and, by enlightening our councils, 
to conduct us into that path which leads to riches, to greatness, to glory. 



REPLY TO JOHN RANDOLPH. 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, 1824. 

[Notwithstanding Mr. Randolph, from some cause which we 
will not attempt to divine, had shown much disposition to annoy 
Mr. Clay as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and made 
many thrusts at him, and notwithstanding the duel between 
them, they met at last in perfect amity, in the Senate chamber, 
when Mr. Kandolph, being in declining health, and apparently 
near his end, approached Mr. Clay, and gave him his hand. It 
was a touching interview. The following morceau, in reply to 
one of Mr. Randolph's assaults, is worth preserving, and shows 
a pacific disposition, mingled with pleasantry.] 

Sir, I am growing old. I have had some little measure of experience 
in public life, and the result of that experience has brought me to this 
conclusion, that when business, of whatever nature, is to be transacted in a 
deliberative assembly, or in private life, courtesy, forbearance, and modera- 
tion, are best calculated to bring it to a successful conclusion. Sir, my 
age admonishes me to abstain from involving myself in personal difficulties; 
would to God that I could say, I am also restrained by higher motives. 
I certainly never sought any collision with the gentleman from Virginia. 
My situation at this time is peculiar, if it be nothing else, and might, I 
should think, dissuade, at least, a generous heart from any wish to draw 
me into circumstances of personal altercation. I have experienced this 
magnanimity from some quarters of the House. But I regret, that from 
others it appears to have no such consideration. The gentleman from 
Virginia was pleased to say, that in one point at least he coincided with 
me — in an humble estimate of my grammatical and philological acquire- 
ments. I know my deficiencies. I was born to no proud patrimonial es- 
tate ; from my father I inherited only infancy, ignorance, and indigence. I 
feel my defects ; but, so far as my situation in early life is concerned, I may, 
without presumption, say they are more my misfortune than my fault. 
But, however I regret my want of ability to furnish to the gentleman a 
better specimen of powers of verbal criticism, I will venture to say, it is 
not greater than the disappointment of this committee as to the strength 
of his argument. 



ADDRESS TO GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 10, 1824. 

[Mr. Clay being Speaker of the House of Representatives 
when General Lafayette was presented to that body, it devolved 
on him to welcome the nation's guest ; and the following is a 
copy of his brief speech on that interesting occasion. Forty 
years had elapsed since General Lafayette had left our shores, 
and he, in the mean time, had enacted a prominent part in the 
eventful changes through which his own country had passed, 
besides having been once in captivity for his country's cause. A 
young man, he came to assist America in her struggle for free- 
dom, was the companion in arms of Washington, and continued 
in our service till the close of the Revolutionary War. Grateful 
for these services, the American people, through their represent- 
atives at Washington, had invited Lafayette to visit this country 
in his old age, as the nation's guest, and sent a public ship to 
bring him to our shores. This invitation was accepted, and 
General Lafayette had made his tour of the States, everywhere 
honored by an uninterrupted ovation, before Congress assembled. 
It was peculiarly fit, that the most prominent and most influen- 
tial American statesman in the war of 1812, should welcome to 
our midst this volunteer soldier of the war of 1776, who left his 
own country to fight our battles in company with Washington, 
and who never left the field till our independence was achieved. 
Mr. Clay, crowned with a civic laurel, stood in the presence of 
the man, who, a foreigner, had staked his fortune and drawn his 
sword for American Liberty, when it hung doubtful in the scales 
of the future, and whose brow was covered with military chap- 
lets, won on our own soil, and on that of his own country. 
Such were the men brought together as speakers on this occa- 
sion — one to express the gratitude of a nation, and the other to 
receive the first meed of praise for services, long past, in behalf 
of a generation now for the most part in their graves. But, 
while men die, history lives, and imparts unfading renown to 



ADDRESS TO LA FAYETTTE. 297 

those who have justly earned it. It is rare, in the history of the 
world, that such an occasion occurs as that on which the follow- 
ing address was delivered ; and still more rare, that speakers 
occuj^ying a like relative position should grace it and make it 
memorable.] 

General, The House of Representatives of the United States, impelled 
alike by its own feelings, and by those of the whole American people, 
could not have assigned to me a more gratifying duty than that of present- 
ing to you cordial congratulations upon the occasion of your recent arrival 
in the United States, in compliance with the Avishes of Congress, and to 
assure you of the very high satisfaction which your presence affords on 
this early theater of your glory and renown. Although but few of the 
members who compose this body shared with you in the war of our Revo- 
lution, all have, from impartial history, or from faithful tradition, a knowl- 
edge of the perils, the sufferings, and the sacrifices, which you voluntarily 
encountered, and the signal services, in America and in Europe, which you 
performed for an infant, a distant, and an alien people ; and all feel and 
own the very great extent of the obligations under which you have placed 
our country. But the relations in which you have ever stood to the 
United States, interesting and important as they have been, do not consti- 
tute the only motive of the respect and admiration which the House of 
Representatives entertain for you. Your consistency of character, your 
uniform devotion to regulated liberty, in all the vicissitudes of a long and 
arduous life, also commands its admiration. During all the recent convul- 
sions of Europe, amid, as after the dispersion of, every political storm, the 
people of the United States have beheld you, true to your old principles, 
firm and erect, cheering and animating with your well-known voice, the 
votaries of liberty, its faithful and fearless champion, ready to shed the last 
drop of that blood which here you so freely and nobly spilled, in the same 
holy cause. 

The vain wish has been sometimes indulged, that Providence would 
allow the patriot, after death, to return to his country, and to contemplate 
the intermediate changes which had taken place ; to view the forests 
felled, the cities built, the mountains leveled, the canals cut, the highways 
constructed, the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the 
increase of population. General, your present visit to the United States is 
a realization of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the midst 
of posterity. Everywhere, you must have been struck with the great 
changes, physical and moral, which have occurred since you left us. Even 
this very city, bearing a venerated name, alike endeared to you and to us, 
has since emerged from the forest which then covered its site. In one re- 
spect you behold us unaltered, and this is in the sentiment of continued 
devotion to liberty, and of ardent affection and profound gratitude to your 



298 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

departed friend, the father of his country, and to you, and to your illus- 
trious associates in the field and in the cabinet, for the multiplied blessings 
which surround us, and for the very privilege of addressing you which I 
now exercise. This sentiment, now fondly cherished by more than ten 
millions of people, will be transmitted, with unabated vigor, down the tide 
of time, through the countless millions who are destined to inhabit this 
continent, to the latest posterity. 

[General Lafayette replied to this address in a befitting and touching man- 
ner.] 



MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS, 

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1825. MARCH 26, 1825. 

[This, as will be seen, is one of Mr. Clay's literary composi- 
tions, and not a reported speech. It is dated some twenty days 
after he had entered on his duties as Secretary of State, under 
Mr. Adams, and was written to vindicate himself before his con- 
stituents in Kentucky, and before the country, from the charge 
of " bargain and corruption," with which he had been so vio- 
lently assailed, for the part he took, as a member of the House 
of Kepresentatives, in the Presidential election of February, 
1825. It mattered not whether General Jackson or Mr. Adams 
should have been elected President by the House, Mr. Clay was 
bound to be Secretary of State, if the wishes of the country and 
of the great West had been regarded. Whether authorized by 
General Jackson himself, or not, it is certain that this office was 
tendered to him, by the General's friends, through Mr. Bu- 
chanan, if he (Mr. Clay) would support the General's preten- 
sions. But no such offer was made by Mr. Adams, nor was 
there any tacit understanding to this effect. On the contrary, 
so far as it is possible to prove a negative, it has been demon- 
strated. Mr. Clay denied any such overtures from Mr. Adams 
or his friends ; but he has caused it to be recorded in history, 
that it was made to him by Mr. Buchanan, for General Jackson, 
or in his behalf. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Clay's relations 
to General Jackson and his friends were not of an auspicious 
character. He did not respect General Jackson's claims, but 
thought him very unqualified for civil trusts, although he con- 
ceded to him a very high order of military talents. 

There was a natural ground of suspicion with General Jackson 
and his friends, toward Mr Clay, and while Mr. Clay refused to 
throw himself into their hands, their inference was, that he was 
engaged in a conspiracy against them. Ready to bargain them- 
selves, they also believed that Mr. Clay would bargain on one 
side or the other ; and they believed it certain that if he would 



300 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY. 

not bargain with General Jackson, it could only be because he 
had bargained with Mr. Adams. Hence the charge against Mr. 
Clay, without the slightest evidence to support it. It seemed 
morally impossible that General Jackson and his friends should 
appreciate the lofty ground occupied by Mr. Clay, as conceded to 
him by the country and by all parties, rendering it entirely un- 
necessary for him to have any understanding with any party, as 
to what place he should occupy in the government. The only 
question was, as to what party he might incline to favor. It 
was impossible that his sympathies, or his sense of duty to the 
country, should run on the side of General Jackson, as his sjjeech 
on the Seminole War, before given, will show. Mr. Clay's opin- 
ion of General Jackson corresponded with that of Mr. Jefferson, 
which has lately come to light in the publication of the private 
correspondence of Daniel Webster, as having been uttered by 
Mr. Jefferson in 1824, when General Jackson was first run for 
the Presidency : " I feel much alarmed," said Mr. Jefferson to. 
Mr. Webster, " at the prospect of seeing General Jackson presi- 
dent. He is one of the most unfit men I know of for such a 
place. He has had very little respect for laws or constitutions, 
though an able military chief. His passions are terrible. When 
I was President of the Senate, he was a senator ; and he could 
never speak on account of the rashness of his feelings. I have 
seen him attempt it repeatedly, and as often choke with rage. 
His passions are, no doubt, cooler now ; for he has been much 
tried since I knew him. But he is a dangerous man." 

This is recorded by Mr. Webster as having been uttered by Mr. 
Jefferson in private conversation, when Mr. Webster was a guest 
at Monticello, and it is no doubt true. Mr. Clay had like rea- 
sons for believing General Jackson to be a dangerous man, and 
he conscientiously entertained them. Hence his preference of 
Mr. Adams, and hence the violent persecution of Mr. Clay on 
account of this preference, which is fully set forth in the chapters 
entitled "The Great Conspiracy," in the first volume of this 
work, and which is also briefly illustrated in the following ad- 
dress.] 

The relations of your representative and of your neighbor, in which I 
have so long stood, and in which I have experienced so many strong 
proofs of your confidence, attachment, and friendship, having just been, 
the one terminated, and the other suspended, I avail myself of the occasion 
on taking, I hope a temporary, leave of you, to express my unfeigned 
gratitude for all your favors, and to assure you that I shall cherish a fond 



MR. CLAY'S ADDEESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 301 

and unceasing recollection of them. The extraordinary circumstances in 
which, during the late session of Congress, I have been placed, and the un- 
merited animadversions which I have brought upon myself, for an honest 
and faithful discharge of my public duty, form an additional motive for 
this appeal to your candor and justice. If, in the office which T have just 
left, I have abused your confidence and betrayed your interests, I can not 
deserve your support in that on the duties of which I have now entered. 
On the contrary, should it appear that I have been assailed without just 
cause, and that misguided zeal and interested passions have singled me 
out as a victim, I can not doubt that I shall continue to find, in the en- 
lightened tribunal of the public, that, cheering countenance and impartial 
judgment, without wdiich a public servant can not possibly discharge with 
advantage the trust confided to him. 

It is known to you, that my name has been presented, by the respectable 
States of Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri, for the office of presi- 
dent, to the consideration of the American public, and that it had attracted 
some attention in other quarters of the Union. When, early in November 
last, I took my departure from the District to repair to this city, the issue 
of the presidential election before the people was unknown. Events, how- 
ever, had then so far transpired as to render it highly probable that there 
would be no election by the people, and that I should be excluded from 
the House of Representatives. It became, therefore, my duty to consider, 
and to make up an opinion on, the respective pretensions of the three 
gentlemen who might be returned, and at that early period I stated to Dr. 
Drake, one of the professors in the Medical School of Transylvania Uni- 
versity, and to John J. Crittenden, Esquire, of Frankfort, my determination 
to support Mr. Adams in preference to General Jackson. I wrote to Charles 
Hammond, Esquire, of Cincinnati, about the same time, and mentioned 
certain objections to the election of Mr. Crawford (among which was that 
of his continued ill health), that appeared to me almost insuperable. Dur- 
ing my journey hither, and up to near Christmas, it remained uncertain 
whether Mr. Crawford or myself would be returned, to the House of Rep- 
resentatives. Up to near Christmas, all our information made it highly 
probable that the vote of Louisiana would be given to me, and that I 
should consequently be returned, to the exclusion of Mr. Crawford. And 
while that probability was strong, I communicated to Mr. Senator John- 
ston, from Louisiana, my resolution not to allow my name, in consequence 
of the small number of votes by which it would be carried into the House, 
if I were returneJ, to constitute an obstacle, for one moment, to an election 
in the House of Representatives. 

During the month of December, and the greater part of January, strong 
professions of high consideration, and of unbounded admiration of me, were 
made to ray friends, in the greatest profusion, by some of the active friends 
of all the returned candidates. Every body professed to regret, after 
I was excluded from the House, that I had not been returned to it. I 



302 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY. 

seemed to be the favorite of every body. Describing ray situation to a 
distant friend, I said to him, " I am enjoying, while alive, the posthumous 
honors which are usually awarded to the venerated dead." A persou not 
acquainted with human nature would have been surprised, in listening to 
these praises, that the object of them had not been elected by general ac- 
clamation. None made more or warmer manifestations of these sentiments 
of esteem and admiration than some of the friends of General Jackson. 
None were so reserved as those of Mr. Adams — under an opinion (as I have 
learned since the election), which they early imbibed, that the western 
vote would be only influenced by its own sense of public duty, and that if 
its judgment pointed to any other than Mr. Adams, nothing which they 
could do would secure it to him. These professions and manifestations 
were taken by me for what they were worth. I knew that the sunbeams 
would quickly disappear, after my opinion should be ascertained, and that 
they would be succeeded by a storm ; although I did not foresee exactly 
how it would burst upon my poor head. I found myself transformed from 
a candidate before the people, into an elector for the people. I deliberate- 
ly examined the duties incident to this new attitude, and weighed all the 
facts before me, upon which my judgment was to be formed or reviewed. 
If the eagerness of any of the heated partisans of the respective candidates 
suggested a tardiness in the declaration of my intention, I believed that 
the new relation in which I was placed to the subject, imposed on me an 
obligation to pay some respect to delicacy and decorum. 

Meanwhile, that very reserve supplied aliment to newspaper criticism. 
The critics could not comprehend how a man standing as I had stood 
toward the other gentlemen, should be restrained, by a sense of propriety, 
from instantly fighting under the banners of one of them, against the 
others. Letters were issued from the manufactory at Washington, to come 
back, after performing long journeys, for Washington consumption. These 
letters imputed to " Mr. Clay and his friends a mysterious, a portentous 
silence," aud so forth. From dark and distant hints the progress was easy 
to open and bitter denunciation. Anonymous letters, full of menace and 
abuse, were almost daily poured in on me. Personal threats were com- 
municated to me, through friendly organs, and I was kindly apprized of all 
the glories of village effigies which awaited me. A systematic attack was 
simultaneously commenced upon me from Boston to Charleston, with an 
object, present aud future, which it was impossible to mistake. No man 
but myself could know the nature, extent, and variety, of means which 
were employed to awe and influence me. I bore them, I trust, as your rep- 
resentative ought to have borne them, and as became me. Then followed 
the letter, afterward adopted as his own, by Mr. Kremer, to the Colum- 
bian Observer. With its character and contents you are well acquainted. 
When I saw that letter, alleged to be written by a member of the very 
House over which I was presiding, who was so far designated as to be 
described as belonging to a particular delegation by name, a member with 



MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 303 

whom I might be daily exchanging, at least on my part, friendly saluta- 
tions, and he was possibly receiving from me constantly acts of courtesy 
and kindness, I felt that I could no longer remain silent. A crisis appeared 
to me to have arisen in my public life. I issued my card. I ought not to 
have put in it the last paragraph, because, although it does not necessarily 
imply the resort to a personal combat, it admits of that construction ; nor 
will I conceal that such a possible issue was within my contemplation. I 
owe it to the community to say, that whatever heretofore I may have done, 
or, by inevitable circumstances, might be forced to do, no man in it holds 
in deeper abhorrence than I do, that pernicious practice. Condemned 
as it must be by the judgment and philosophy, to say nothing of the 
religion, of every thinking man, it is an affair of feeling about which 
we can not, although we should, reason. Its true corrective will be 
found when all shall unite, as all ought to unite, in its unqualified pro- 
scription. 

A few days after the publication of my card, " another card," under Mr. 
Kremer's name, was published in the Intelligencer. The night before, as I 
was voluntarily informed, Mr. Eaton, a senator from Tennessee, and the 
biographer of General Jackson (who boarded in the end of this city, op- 
posite to that in which Mr. Kremer took up his abode, a distance of about 
two miles and a half), was closeted for some time with him. Mr. Kremer 
is entitled to sreat credit for having overcome all the disadvantages inci- 
dent to his early life and want of education, and forced his way to the 
honorable station of a member of the House of Representatives. Ardent 
iu his attachment to the cause which he had espoused, General Jackson is 
his idol, and of his blind zeal others have availed themselves, and have 
made him their dupe and their instrument. I do not pretend to know the 
object of Mr. Eaton's visit to him. I state the fact as it was communi- 
cated to me, and leave you to judge. Mr. Kremer's card is composed with 
some care and no little art, and he is made to avow in it, though some- 
what equivocally, that he is the author of the letter to the Columbian 
Observer. To Mr. Crowninshield, a member from Massachusetts, formerly 
Secretary of the Navy, he declared that he was not the author of that let- 
ter. In his card he draws a clear line of separation between my friends 
and me, acquitting them, and undertaking to make good his charges in 
that letter only so far as I am concerned. The purpose of this discrimina- 
tion is obvious. At that time the election was undecided, and it was 
therefore as important to abstain from imputations against my friends, as 
it was politic to fix them upon me. If they could be made to believe that 
I had been perfidious, in the transport of their indignation, they might 
have been carried to the support of General Jackson. I received the 
National Intelligencer, containing Mr. Kremer's card, at breakfast (the 
usual time of its distribution), on the morning of its publication. As soon 
as I read the card I took my resolution. The terms of it clearly implied 
that it had not entered into his conception to have a personal affair with 



304 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

me ; and I should have justly exposed myself to universal ridicule if I had 
sought one with him. I determined to lay the matter before the House, 
and respectfully invite an investigation of my conduct. I accordingly made 
a communication to the House on the same day, the motives for which I 
assigned. Mr. Kremer was in his place, and, when I sat down, rose and 
stated that he was prepared and willing to substantiate his charges against 
me. This was his voluntary declaration, unprompted by his aiders and 
abettors, who had no opportunity of previous consultation with him on that 
point. Here was an issue publicly and solemnly joined, in which the ac- 
cused invoked an inquiry into serious charges against him, and the accuser 
professed an ability and a willingness to establish them. A debate ensued 
on the next day which occupied the greater part of it, during which Mr. 
Kremer declared to Mr. Brent, of Louisiana, a friend of mine, and to Mr. 
Little, of Maryland, a friend of General Jackson, as they have certified, 
" that he never intended to charge Mr. Clay with corruption or dishonor, 
in his intended vote for Mr. Adams as president, or that he had transferred 
or could transfer the votes or interests of his friends ; that he (Mr. Kre- 
mer) was among the last men in the nation to make such a charge against 
Mr. Clay ; and that his letter was never intended to convey the idea given 
to it." Mr. Digges, a highly respectable inhabitant of this city, has cer- 
tified to the same declarations of Mr. Kremer. 

A message was also conveyed to me, during the discussion, through a 
member of the House, to ascertain if I would be satisfied with an explana- 
tion which was put on paper and shown me, and which it was stated Mr 
Kremer was willing, in his place, to make. I replied that the matter was 
in the possession of the House. I was afterward told that Mr. Ingham, of 
Pennsylvania, got hold of that paper, put it in his pocket, and that he ad- 
vtsed Mr. Kremer to take no step without the approbation of his friends. 
Mr. Cook, of Illinois, moved an adjournment of the House on information 
which he received of the probability of Mr. Kremer's making a satisfactory 
atonement on the next day, for the injury which he had done me, which I 
have no doubt he would have made if he had been left to the impulses of 
his native honesty. The House decided to refer my communication to a 
committee, and adjourned until the next day to appoint it by ballot. In 
the mean time Mr. Kremer had taken, I presume, or rather there had been 
forced upon him the advice of his friends, and I heard no more of the apol- 
ogy. A committee was appointed of seven gentlemen, of whom not one was 
my political friend, but who were among the most eminent members of 
the body. I received no summons or notification from the committee 
from its first organization to its final dissolution, but Mr. Kremer was 
called upon by it to bring forward his proofs. 

For one moment be pleased to stop here and contemplate his posture, 
his relation to the House and to me, and the high obligations under which 
he had voluntarily placed himself. He was a member of one of the most 
august assemblies upon earth, of which he was bound to defend the purity 



MK. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 305 

or expose the corruption by every consideration which ought to influence a 
patriot bosom. A most responsible and highly important constitutional 
duty was to be performed by that assembly. He had chosen, in an anony- 
mous letter, to bring against its presiding officer charges, in respect to that 
duty, of the most flagitious character. These charges comprehend delega- 
tions from several highly respectable States. If true, that presiding officer 
merited not merely to be dragged from the chair, but to be expelled the 
House. He challenges an investigation into his conduct, and Mr. Kremer 
boldly accepts the challenge, and promises to sustain his accusation. The 
committee appointed by the House itself, with the common consent of 
both parties, calls upon Mr. Kremer to execute his pledge publicly given, 
in his proper place, and also previously given in the public prints. Here 
is the theater of the alleged arrangements; this the vicinage in which the 
trial ought to take place. Every thing was here fresh in the recollection 
of the witnesses, if there were any. Here all the proofs were concentrated, 
Mr. Kremer was stimulated by every motive which could impel to action ; 
by his consistency of character ; by duty to his constituents, to his coun- 
try ; by that of redeeming his solemn pledge ; by his anxious wish for the 
success of his favorite, whose interests could not fail to be advanced by 
supporting his atrocious charges. But Mr. Kremer had now the benefit of 
the advice of his friends. He had no proofs, for the plainest of all reasons, 
because there was no truth in his charges. They saw that to attempt to 
establish them and to fail, as he must fail in the attempt, might lead to an 
exposure of the conspiracy, of which he was the organ. They advised, 
therefore, that he should make a retreat, and their adroitness suggested, 
that in an objection to that jurisdiction of the House, which had been ad- 
mitted, and in the popular topics of the freedom of the press, his duty to 
his constituents, and the inequality in the condition of the Speaker of the 
House, and a member on the floor, plausible means might be found to de- 
ceive the ignorant and conceal his disgrace. A labored communication 
was accordingly prepared by them, in Mr. Kremer's name, and transmitted 
to the committee, founded upon these suggestions. Thus the valiant 
champion, w 7 ho had boldly stepped forward, and promised, as a represent- 
ative of the people, to " cry aloud and spare not," forgot all his gratuitous 
gallantry and boasted patriotism, and sank at once into profound silence. 

With these remarks, I will for the present leave him, and proceed to 
assign the reasons to you, to whom alone I admit myself to be officially 
responsible for the vote which I gave on the presidential election. The 
first inquiry which it behooved me to make was, as to the influence which 
ought to be exerted on my judgment, by the relative state of the electoral 
votes which the three returned candidates brought into the House from the 
colleges. General Jackson obtained ninety-nine, Mr. Adams eighty-four, 
and Mr. Crawford forty-one. Ought the fact of a plurality being given to 
one of the candidates to have any, and what, weight 1 If the Constitution 
had intended that it should have been decisive, the Constitution would have 

20 



306 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

made it decisive, aud interdicted the exercise of any discretion on the part 
of the House of Representatives. The Constitution has not so ordained, 
but, on the contrary, it has provided, that "from the persons having the 
highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as 
president, the House of Representatives shall choose, immediately, by ballot, 
a president." Thus a discretion is necessarily invested in the House ; for 
choice implies examination, comparison, judgment. The fact, therefore, 
that one of the three persons was the highest returned, not being, by the 
Constitution of the country, conclusive upon the judgment of the House, 
it still remains to determine what is the true degree of weight belonging to 
it ? It has been contended that it should operate, if not as au instruction, 
at least in the nature of one, and that in this form it should control the 
judgment of the House. But this is the same argument of conclusiveness 
which the Constitution does not enjoin, thrown into a different but more 
imposing shape. Let me analyze it. There are certain States, the aggre- 
gate of whose electoral votes conferred upon the highest returned candi- 
date, indicate their wish that he should be the president. Their votes 
amount in number to ninety-nine, out of two hundred and sixty-one elec- 
toral votes of the whole Union. These ninety-nine do not, and cau not, 
of themselves, make the president. If the fact of particular States giving 
ninety-nine votes, can, according to any received notions of the doc- 
trine of instruction, be regarded in that light, to whom are those instruc- 
tions to be considered addressed ? According to that doctrine, the people 
who appoint, have the right to direct, by their instruction, in certain cases, 
the course of the representative whom they appoint. The States, there- 
fore, who gave those ninety-nine votes, may in some sense be understood 
thereby to have instructed their representatives in the House to vote for 
the person on whom they were bestowed, in the choice of a president 
But most clearly the representatives coming from other States, which gave 
no part of those ninety-nine votes, cau not be considered as having been 
under any obligation to surrender their judgments to those of the States 
which gave the ninety-nine votes. To contend that they are under such 
an obligation, would be to maintain that the people of one State have 
a right to instruct the representatives from another State. It would be to 
maintain a still more absurd proposition ; that in a case where the representa- 
tives from a State did not hold themselves instructed and bound by the 
will of that State, as indicated in its electoral college, the representatives 
from another State were, nevertheless, instructed and bound by that alien 
will. Thus the entire vote of North Carolina, and a large majority of that 
of Maryland, in their respective electoral colleges, were given to one of the 
three returned candidates, for whom the delegation from neither of those 
States voted. And yet the argument combated requires that the delega- 
tion from Kentucky, who do not represent the people from North Carolina 
nor Maryland, should be instructed by, and give an effect to, the indicated 
will of the people of those two States, when their own delegation paid no 



ME. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 307 

attention to it. Doubtless, those delegations felt themselvns authorized to 
look into the actual composition of, and all other circumstances connected 
with, the majorities which gave the electoral votes in their respective 
States; and felt themselves justified, from a view of the whole ground, to 
act upon their responsibility, and according to their best judgments, dis- 
regarding the electoral votes in their States. And are representatives from 
a different State not only bound by the will of a people of the different 
commonwealth, but forbidden to examine into the manner by which the 
expression of that will was brought about — an examination which the im- 
mediate representatives themselves feel it their duty to make ? 

Is the fact, then, of a plurality to have no weight ? Far from it. Here 
are twenty-four communities united under a common government. The 
expression of the will of any one of them is entitled to the most respect- 
ful attention. It ought to be patiently heard and kindly regarded by the 
others ; but it can not be admitted to be conclusive upon them. The ex- 
pression of the will of ninety-nine out of two hundred and sixty-one elect- 
ors, is entitled to very great attention, but that will can not be considered 
as entitled to control the will of one hundred and sixty-two electors who 
have manifested a different will. To give it such controlling influence, 
would be a subversion of the fundamental maxim of the republic — that the 
majority should govern. The will of the ninety-nine can neither be allow- 
ed rightfully to control the remaining one hundred and sixty-two, nor any 
one of the one hundred and sixty- two electoral votes. It may be an argu- 
ment, a persuasion, addressed to all and each of them, but it is binding 
and obligatory upon none. It follows, then, that the fact of a plurality was 
only one amoug the various considerations which the House was called 
upon to weigh, in making up its judgment. And the weight of the con- 
sideration ought to have been regulated by the extent of the plurality. 
As between General Jackson and Mr. Adams, the vote standing in the 
proportions of ninety-nine to eighty-four, it was entitled to less weight ; 
as between the general and Mr. Crawford, it was entitled to more, the 
vote being as ninety-niue to forty-one. The concession may even be 
made that, upon the supposition of an equality of pretensions between com- 
peting candidates, the preponderance ought to be given to the fact of a 
plurality. 

With these views of the relative state of the vote with which the three 
returned candidates entered the House, I proceeded to examine the other 
considerations which belonged to the question. For Mr. Crawford, who 
barely entered the House, with only four votes more than one candidate 
not returned, and upon whose case, therefore, the argument derived from 
the fact of plurality operated with strong, though not decisive force, I have 
ever felt much personal regard. But I was called upon to perform a 
solemn public duty, in which my private feelings, whether of affection or 
aversion, were not to be indulged, but the good of my country only con- 
sulted. It appeared to me that the precarious state of that gentleman^ 



308 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

health, although I participated with his hest friends in all their regrets and 
sympathies on account of it, was conclusive against him, to say nothing of 
other considerations of a public nature, which would have deserved exam- 
ination if, happily, in that respect he had been differently circumstanced. 
He had been ill near eighteen months ; and, although I am aware that his 
actual condition was a fact depending upon evidence, and that the evidence 
in regard to it, which had been presented to the public, was not perfectly 
harmonious, I judged for myself upon what I, saw and heard. He may, 
and I ardently hope will, recover ; but I did not think it became me to 
assist in committing the executive administration of this great republic, on 
the doubtful contingency of the restoration to health of a gentleman who 
had been so long and so seriously afflicted. Moreover, if, under all the 
circumstances of his situation, his election had been desirable, I did not 
think it practicable. I believed, and yet believe, that if the votes of the 
western States, given to Mr. Adams, had been conferred on Mr. Crawford, 
the effect would have been to protract in the House the decision of the 
contest, to the great agitation and distraction of the country, and possibly 
to defeat an election altogether ; the very worst result I thought that could 
happen. It appeared to me, then, that, sooner or later, we must arrive at 
the only practical issue of the contest before us, and that was between Mr. 
Adams and General Jackson, and I thought that the earlier we got there, 
the better for the country, and for the House. 

In considering this only alternative, I was not unaware of your strong 
desire to have a western president ; but I thought that I knew enough of 
your patriotism and magnanimity, displayed on so many occasions, to be- 
lieve that you could rise above the mere gratification of sectioual pride, if 
the common good of the whole required you to make the sacrifice of local 
partiality. I solemnly believed it did, and this brings me to the most im- 
portant consideration which belonged to the whole subject — that arising 
out of the respective fitness of the only two real competitors, as it appeared 
to my best judgment. 

In speakiug of General Jackson, I am aware of the delicacy and respect 
which are justly due to that distinguished citizen. It is far from my pur- 
pose to attempt to disparage him. I could not do it if I were capable of 
making the attempt ; but I shall nevertheless speak of him as becomes 
me with truth. I did not believe him so competent to discharge the va- 
rious, intricate, and complex duties of the office of chief magistrate, as his 
competitor. He has displayed great skill and bravery, as a military com- 
mander, and his own renown will endure as long as the means exist of 
preserving a recollection of human transactions. But to be qualified to 
discharge the duties of President of the United States, the incumbent 
must have more than mere military attainments — he must be a statesman. 
An individual may be a gallant and successful general, an eminent law- 
yer, an eloquent divine, a learned physician, or an accomplished artist ; 
and doubtless the union of all these characters in the person of a chief 



MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 309 

magistrate would be desirable, but no one of them, nor all combined, will 
qualify him to be president, unless he superadds that indispensable re- 
quisite of being a statesman. Far from meaning to say that it is an ob- 
jection to the elevation to the chief magistracy of any person that he is 
a military commander, if he unites the other qualifications, I only intend 
to say that whatever may be the success or splendor of his military 
achievements, if his qualifications be only military, that is an objection, 
and I think a decisive objection, to his election. If General Jackson has 
exhibited, either in the councils of the Union, or in tbose of his own State, 
or in those of any other State or Territory, the qualities of a statesman, 
the evidence of the fact has escaped my observation. It would be as pain- 
ful as it is unnecessary, to recapitulate some of the incidents, which must 
be fresh in your recollection, of his public life. But I was greatly deceived 
in my judgment if they proved him to be endowed with that prudence, 
temper, and discretion, which are necessary for civil administration. It 
was in vain to remind me of the illustrious example of Washington. There 
was ih that extraordinary person united, a serenity of mind, a cool and 
collected wisdom, a cautious and deliberate judgment, a perfect command 
of the passions, and throughout his whole life, a familiarity and acquaint- 
ance with business, and civil transactions, which rarely characterize any 
human being. No man was ever more deeply penetrated than he was, 
with profound respect for the safe and necessary principle of the entire 
subordination of the military to the civil authority. I hope I do no in- 
justice to General Jackson when I say that I could not recognize in his 
public conduct those attainments, for both civil government and military 
command, which cotemporaries and posterity have alike unanimously con- 
curred in awarding as yet only to the father of his country. I was sensible 
of the gratitude which the people of this country justly feel toward Gen- 
eral Jackson, for his brilliant military services. But the impulses of public 
gratitude should be controlled, as it appeared to me, by reason and dis- 
cretion, and I was not prepared blindly to surrender myself to the hazard- 
ous indulgence of a feeling, however amiable and excellent that feeling 
may be, when properly directed. It did not seem to me to be wise or 
prudent, if, as I solemnly believe, General Jackson's competency for the 
office was highly questionable, that he should be placed in a situation 
where neither his fame nor the public interests would be advanced. Gen- 
eral Jackson himself would be the last man to recommend or vote for 
any one for a place for which he thought him unfit. I felt myself sus- 
tained by his own reasoning, in his letter to Mr. Monroe, in which, speak- 
ing of the qualifications of our venerable Shelby for the Department of 
War, he remarked : "I am compelled to say to you, that the acquirements 
of this worthy man are not competent to the discharge of the multiplied 
duties of this Department. I therefore hope he may not accept the ap- 
pointment. I am fearful, if he does, he will not add much splendor to his 
present well-earned standing as a public character." Such was my opinion 



310 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY. 

of General Jackson, in reference to the presidency. His conviction of 
Governor Shelby's unfitness, by the habits of his life, for the appointment 
of Secretary of War, were not more hones'!; nor stronger than mine were 
of his own want of experience, and the necessary civil qualifications to 
discharge the duties of a President of the United States. In his elevation 
to this office, too, I thought I perceived the establishment of a fearful pre- 
cedent ; and I am mistaken in all the warnings of instructive history, if I 
erred in my judgment. Undoubtedly there are other and many dangers 
to public liberty, besides that which proceeds from military idolatry ; but 
I have yet to acquire the knowledge of it, if there be one more perilous- 
or more frequent. 

Whether Mr. Adams would or would not have been my choice of a presi- 
dent, if I had been left freely to select from the whole mass of American citi- 
zens, was not the question submitted to my decision. I had no such liberty ; 
but I was circumscribed, in the selection I had to make, to one of the three 
gentlemen whom the people themselves had thought proper to present to 
the House of Representatives. Whatever objections might be supposed 
to exist against him, still greater appeared to me to apply to his competitor. 
Of Mr. Adams it is but truth and justice to say, that he is highly gifted, 
profoundly learned, and long and greatly experienced in public affairs, at 
home and abroad. Intimately conversant with the rise and progress of 
every negotiation with foreign powers, pending or concluded ; personally 
acquainted with the capacity and attainments of most of the public men 
of this country, whom it might be proper to employ in the public serv- 
ice ; extensively possessed of much of that valuable kind of information 
which is to be acquired neither from books nor tradition, but which is the 
fruit of largely participating in public affairs ; discreet and sagacious, he 
would enter upon the duties of the office with great advantages. I saw 
in his election th,e establishment of no dangerous example. I saw in it, on 
the contrary, only conformity to the safe precedents which had been estab- 
lished in the instances of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe, 
who had respectively filled the same office from which he was to be trans- 
lated. 

A collateral consideration of much weight, was derived from the wishes 
of the Ohio delegation. A majority of it, during the progress of the 
session, made up their opiuions to support Mr. Adams, and they were 
communicated to me. They said, " Ohio supported the candidate who was 
the choice of Kentucky. We failed in our common exertions to secure 
his election. Now, among those returned, we have a decided preference, 
and we think you ought to make some sacrifice to gratify us." Was not 
much due to our neighbor and friend ? 

I considered, with the greatest respect, the resolution of the General 
Assembly of Kentucky, requesting the delegation to vote for General 
Jackson. That resolution, it is true, placed us in a peculiar situation. 
While every other delegation, from every other State in the Union, was 



MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 311 

left by its Legislature entirely free to examine the pretensions of all the 
candidates, and to form its unbiased judgment, the General Assembly of 
Kentucky thought proper to interpose, and request the delegation to give 
its vote to one of the candidates, whom they were pleased to designate. I 
felt a sincere desire to comply with a request emanating from a source so 
respectable, if I could have done so consistently with those paramount 
duties which I owed to you and to the country. But, after full and anxious 
consideration, I found it incompatible with my best judgment of those 
duties, to conform to the request of the General Assembly. The resolution 
asserts, that it was the wish of the people of Kentucky, that their delega- 
tion should vote for the general. It did not inform me by what means 
that body had arrived at a knowledge of the wish of the people. I knew 
that its members had repaired to Frankfort before I departed from home 
to come to Washington. I knew that their attention was fixed on import- 
ant local concerns, well entitled, by their magnitude, exclusively to engross 
it. No election, no general expression of the popular sentiment, had oc- 
curred since that in November, when electors were chosen, and at that the 
people, by an overwhelming majority, had decided against General Jack- 
son. I could not see how such an expression against him could be inter- 
preted into that of a desire for his election. If, as is true, the candidate 
whom they preferred was not returned to the House, it is equally true that 
the state of the contest, as it presented itself here to me, had never been 
considered, discussed, and decided by the people of Kentucky, in their col- 
lective capacity. What would have been their decision on this new state 
of the question, I might have undertaken to conjecture, but the certainty 
of any conclusion of fact, as to their opinion, at which I could arrive, was 
by no means equal to that certainty of conviction of my duty to which I 
was carried by the exertion of my best and most deliberate reflections. 
The letters from home, which some of the delegation received, expressed 
the most opposite opinions, and there were not wanting instances of letters 
from some of the very members, who had voted for that resolution, advis- 
ing a different course. I received from a highly respectable portion of my 
constituents a paper, instructing me as follows : 

' ; We, the undersigned voters in the congressional district, having viewed the 
instruction or request of the Legislature of Kentucky, on the subject of choos- 
ing a president and vice-president of the United States, with regret, and the 
said request or instruction to our representative in Congress from this district 
being without our knowledge or consent, we, for many reasons known to our- 
selves, connected with so momentous an occasion, hereby instruct our represent- 
ative in Congress to vote on this occasion agreeably to his own judgment, and 
the best lights he may have on the subject, with or without the consent of the 
Legislature of Kentucky." 

This instruction came both unexpectedly and unsolicited by me, and it 
was accompanied by letters assuring me that it expressed the opinion of 



312 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

a majority of my constituents. I could not, therefore, regard the resolution 
as conclusive evidence of your wishes. 

Viewed as a mere request, as it purported to be, the General Assembly 
doubtless had the power to make it. But, then, with deference, I think it 
was worthy of serious consideration, whether the dignity of the General 
Assembly ought not to have induced it to forbear addressing itself, not to 
another legislative body, but to a small part of it, and requesting the mem- 
bers who composed that part, in a case which the Constitution had con- 
fided to them, to vote according to the wishes of the General Assembly, 
whether those wishes did or did not conform to their sense of duty. I 
could not regard the resolution as an instruction ; for, from the origin of 
our State, its Legislature has never assumed or exercised the right to in- 
struct the representatives in Congress. I did not recognize the right, 
therefore, of the Legislature, to instruct me. I recognized that right only 
when exerted by you. That the portion of the public servants who made 
up the General Assembly, have no right to instruct that portion of them 
who constituted the Kentucky delegation in the House of Representatives, 
is a proposition too clear to be argued. The members of the General As- 
sembly would have been the first to behold as a presumptuous interposi- 
tion, any instruction, if the Kentucky delegation could have committed 
the absurdity to issue, from this place, any instruction to them to vote in 
a particular manner on any of the interesting subjects which lately engaged 
their attention at Frankfort. And although nothing is further from my 
intention than to impute either absurdity or jiresumption to the General 
Assembly, in the adoption of the resolution referred to, I must say, that 
the difference between an instruction emanating from them to the dele- 
gation, and from the delegation to them, is not in the principle, but is to 
be found only in the degree of superior importance which belongs to the 
General Assembly. 

Entertaining these views of the election on which it was made my duty 
to vote, I felt myself bound, in the exercise of my best judgment, to prefer 
Mr. Adams ; and I accordingly voted for him. I should have been highly 
gratified if it had not been my duty to vote on the occasion ; but that was 
not my situation, and I did not choose to shrink from any responsibility 
which appertained to your representative. Shortly after the election, it 
was rumored that Mr Kremer was preparing a publication, and the prepa- 
rations which were making excited much expectation. Accordingly, on 
the twenty-sixth of February, the address, under his name, to the " electors 
of the ninth congressional district of the State of Pennsylvania," made its 
appearance in the Washington City Gazette. No member of the House I 
am persuaded, believed that Mr. Kremer ever wrote one paragraph of that 
address, or of the plea, which was presented to the committee, to the juris- 
diction of the House. Those who counseled him, and composed both pa- 
pers, and their purposes, were just as well known as the author of any 
report from a committee to the House. The first observation which is 



MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 313 

called for by the address is the place of its publication. That place was in 
this city, remote from the center of Pennsylvania, near which Mr. Kivmer's 
district is situated, and in a paper having but a very limited, if any circula- 
tion in it. The time is also remarkable. The fact that the president in- 
tended to nominate me to the Senate for the office which I now hold, in 
the course of a few days, was then well known, and the publication of the 
address, was, no doubt, made less with an intention to communicate inform- 
ation to the electors of the ninth congressional district of Pennsylvania? 
than to affect the decision of the Senate on the intended nomination. Of 
the character and contents of that address of Messrs. George Kremer & 
Co., made up, as it is, of assertion without proof, of inferences without 
premises, and of careless, jocose, and quizzing conversations of some of my 
friends, to which I was no party, and of which I had never heard, it is not 
my intention to say much. It carried its own refutation, and the parties 
concerned saw its abortive nature the next day, in the indignant counte- 
nance of every unprejudiced and honorable member. In his card, Mr. 
Kremer has been made to say, that he held himself ready " to prove, to 
the satisfaction of unprejudiced minds, enough to satisfy them of the ac- 
curacy of the statements which are contained in that letter, to the extent 
that they concerned the course of conduct of II. Clay." The object for ex- 
cluding my friends from this pledge has been noticed. But now the elec- 
tion was decided, and there no longer existed a motive for discrimination 
between them and me. Hence the only statements that are made, in the 
address, having the semblance of proof, relate rather to them than to me ; 
and the design was, by establishing something like facts upon them, to 
make those facts react upon me. 

Of the few topics of the address upon which I shall remark, the first is 
the accusation brought forward against me, of violating instructions. If 
the accusation were true, who was the party offended, and to whom was I 
amenable ? If I violated any instructions, they must have been yours, 
since you only had the right to give them, and to you alone was I respon- 
sible. Without allowing hardly time for you to hear of my vote, without 
waiting to know what your judgment was of my conduct, George Kremer 
& Co. chose to arraign me before the American public as the violator of 
instructions which I was bound to obey. If, instead of being, as you are 
and I hope always will be, vigilant observers of the conduct of your public 
agents, jealous of your rights, and competent to protect and defend them, 
you had been ignorant and culpably confiding, the gratuitous interposition 
as your advocate, of the honorable George Kremer, of the ninth congres- 
sional district in Pennsylvania, would have merited your most grateful ac- 
knowledgments. Even upon that supposition, his arraignment of me would 
have required for its support one small circumstance, which happens not to 
exist, and that is, the fact of your having actually instructed me to vote 
according to his pleasure. 

The relations in which I stood to Mr. Adams constitute the next theme 



314 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of the address, which I shall notice. I am described as having assumed 
" a position of peculiar and decided hostility to the election of Mr. Adams," 
and expressions toward him are attributed to me, which I never used. I 
am also made responsible for "pamphlets and essays of great ability," pub- 
lished by my fiieuds in Kentucky in the course of the canvass. The in- 
justice of the principle of holding me thus answerable, may be tested by 
applying it to the case of General Jackson, in reference to publications 
issued, for example, from the Columbia Observer. That I was not in favor 
of the election of Mr. Adams, when the contest was before the people, is 
most certain. Neither was I in favor of that of Mr. Crawford or General 
Jackson. That I ever did any thing against Mr. Adams, or either of the 
other gentlemen, inconsistent with a fair and honorable competition, I ut- 
terly deny. My relations to Mr. Adams have been the subject of much 
misconception, if not misrepresentation. I have been stated to be under a 
public pledge to expose some nefarious conduct of that gentleman, during 
the negotiation at Ghent, which would prove him to be entirely unworthy 
of public confidence ; and that, with the knowledge of his perfidy, I never- 
theless voted for him. If these imputations are well founded, I should in- 
deed, be a fit object of public censure ; but if, on the contrary, it shall be 
found that others, inimical both to him and to me, have substituted their 
own interested wishes for my public promises, I trust that the indignation 
which they would excite, will be turned from me. 

My, letter, addressed to the editors of the Intelligencer, under date of 
the 15th of November, 1822, is made the occasion for ascribing to me 
the promise and the pledge to make those treasonable disclosures on Mr. 
Adams. Let that letter speak for itself, and it will be seen how little just- 
ice there is for such an assertion. It adverts to the controversy which 
had arisen between Messrs. Adams and Russell, and then proceeds to state 
that, " in the course of several publications, of which it has been the oc- 
casion, and particularly in the appendix to a pamphlet, which had been 
recently published by the honorable John Quincy Adams, I think there 
are some errors, no doubt unintentional, both as to matters of fact and 
matters of opinion, in regard to the transactions at Ghent, relating to the 
navigation of the Mississippi, and certain liberties claimed by the United 
States in the fisheries, and to the part which I bore in those transactions. 
Those important interests are now well secured." " An account, therefore, 
of what occurred in the negotiation at Ghent, on those two subjects, is not, 
perhaps, necessary to the present or future security of any of the rights 
of the nation, and is only interesting as appertaining to its past history. 
With these impressions, and being extremely unwilling to present myself, 
at any time, before the public, I had almost resolved to remain silent, and 
thus expose myself to the inference of an acquiescence in the correctness 
of all the statements made by both my colleagues ; but I have, on more 
reflection, thought it may be expected of me, and be considered as a duty 
on my part, to contribute all in my power toward a full and faithful un 



ME. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 315 

derstanding of the transactions referred to. Under this conviction, I will, 
at some future period, more propitious than the present to calm and dis- 
passionate consideration, and when there can be no misinterpretation of 
motives, lay before the rjublic a narrative of those transactions, as I un- 
derstood them." 

From even a careless perusal of that letter, it is apparent, that the only 
two subjects of the negotiations at Ghent, to which it refers, were the nav- 
igation of the Mississippi, and certain fishing liberties ; that the errors 
which I had supposed were committed, applied to both Mr. Russell and 
Mr. Adams, though more particularly to the appendix of the latter ; that 
they were unintentional ; that they affected myself principally ; that I 
deemed them of no public importance, as connected with the then, or future 
security of any of the rights of the nation, but only interesting to its past 
history ; that I doubted the necessity of my offering to the public any ac- 
count of those transactions ; and that the narrative which 1 promised was 
to be presented at a season of more calm, and when there could be no mis- 
interpretation of motives. Although Mr. Adams believes otherwise, I yet 
think there are some unintentional errors in the controversial papers be- 
tween him and Mr. Russell. But I have reserved to myself an exclusive 
right of judging when I shall execute the promise which I have made, and 
shall be neither quickened nor retarded in its performance by the friendly 
anxieties of any of my opponents. 

If injury accrue to anyone by the delay in publishing the narrative, the 
public will not suffer by it. It is already known by the publication of 
the British and American projets, the protocols, and the correspondence 
between the respective plenipotentiaries, that the British government made 
at Ghent a demand of the navigation of the Mississippi, by an article in 
their projet nearly in the same words as those which were employed in the 
treaty of 1783 ; that a majority of the American Commissioners was in 
favor of acceding to that demand, upon the condition that the British 
government would concede to us the same fishing liberties within their 
jurisdiction, as were secured to us by the same treaty of 1*783 ; and that 
both demands were finally abandoned. The fact of these mutual proposi- 
tions was communicated by me to the American public in a speech which 
I delivered in the House of Representatives, on the 29th day of January, 
1816. Mr. Hopkinson had arrainged the terms of the treaty of peace, 
and charged upon the war and the administration the loss of the fish- 
ing liberties, within the British jurisdiction, which we enjoyed prior to the 
war. In vindicating, in my reply to him, the course of the government, 
and the conditions of the peace, I stated : 

" When the British commissioners demanded, in their project, a renewal to 
Great Britain of the right of the navigation of the Mississippi, secured by the 
treaty of 1783, a bare majority of the American commissioners offered to renew 
it, upon the condition that the liberties in question were renewed to us. I was 



316 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

not one of that majority. I will not trouble the committee with my reasons 
for being opposed to the offer. A majority of my colleagues, actuated, I be- 
lieve, by the best motives, made, however, the offer, and it was refused by the 
British commissioners.' 

And what I thought of my colleagues of the majority, appears from 
the same extract. The spring after the termination of the negotiations at 
Ghent, I went to London, and entered upon a new and highly important 
negotiation with two of them (Messrs. Adams and Gallatin), which resulted, 
on the third day of July, 1815, in the commercial convention, which has 
been since made the basis of most of our commercial arrangements with 
foreign powers. Now, if I had discovered at Ghent, as has been asserted, 
that either of them was false and faithless to his country, would I have 
voluntarily commenced with them another negotiation ? Further : there 
never has been a period, during our whole acquaintance, that Mr. Adams 
and I have not exchanged, when we have met, friendly salutations, and the 
courtesies and hospitalities of social intercourse. 

The address proceeds to characterize the support which I gave to Mr. 
Adams as unnatural. The authors of the address have not stated why it is 
unnatural, and we are therefore left to conjecture their meaning. Is it be- 
cause Mr. Adams is from New England, and I am a citizen of the West? 
If it be unnatural in the western States to support a citizen of New En- 
gland, it must be equally unnatural in the New England States to support 
a citizen of the West. And, on the same principle, the New England 
States ought to be restrained from concurring in the election of a citizen 
of the southern States, or the southern States from co-operating in the 
election of a citizen of New England. And, consequently, the support 
which the last three presidents have derived from New England, and that 
which the vice-president receutly received has been most unnaturally 
given. The tendency of such reasoning would be to denationalize us, and 
to contract every part of the Union within the narrow, selfish limits of its 
own section. It would be still worse ; it would lead to the destruction of 
the Union itself. For if it be unnatural in one section to support a 
citizen in another, the Union itself must be unnatural ; all our ties, all our 
glories, all that is animating in the past, all that is bright and cheering in 
the future, must be unnatural. Happily, such is the admirable texture of 
our Union, that the interests of all its parts are closely interwoven. If 
there are strong points of affinity between the South and the West, there 
are interests of not less, if not greater strength and vigor binding the 
West, and the North, and the East. 

Before I close this address, it is my duty, which I proceed to perform 
with great regret, on account of the occasion which calls for it, to invite 
your attention to a letter, addressed by General Jackson to Mr. Swartwout, 
on the 23d day of February last. The names of both the general and my- 
self had been before the American public for its highest office. We had 
both been unsuccessful. The unfortunate have usually some sympathy for 



MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 317 

each otber. For myself, I claim no merit for the cheerful acquiescence 
■which I have given in a result by which I was excluded from the ilouse. 
I have believed that the decision by the constituted authorities, in favor of 
others, has been founded upon a conviction of the superiority of their pre- 
tensions. It has been my habit, when an election is once decided, to for- 
get, as soon as possible, all the irritating circumstances which attended the 
preceding canvass. If one be successful he should be content with his 
success. If he have lost it, railing will do no good. I never gave General 
Jackson nor his friends any reason to believe that I would, in any contin- 
gency, support him. lie had, as I thought, no public claims, anil, I will 
now add, no personal claims, if these ought to be ever considered, to my 
support. No one, therefore, ought to have been disappointed or chagrined 
that I did not vote for him, no more than I was neither surprised nor dis- 
appointed that he did not, on a more recent occasion, feel it to be his duty 
to vote for me. After commenting upon a particular phrase used in my 
letter to Judge Brooke, a calm reconsideration of which will, I think, satisfy 
any person that it was not employed in an offensive sense, if indeed it have 
an offensive sense, the general, in his fetter to Mr. Swartwout, proceeds to 
remark: "No one beheld me seeking, 'through art or management, to en- 
tice any representative in Congress frorn a conscientious responsibility of 
his own, or the wishes of his constitu/ents. No midnight taper burned by 
me ; no secret conclaves were held, nor cabals entered into to persuade any 
one to a violation of pledges given, or ©f-instructions received. By me no 
plans were concerted to impair the pure ^principles of our republican in- 
stitutions, nor to prostrate that fundamental maxim which maintains the 
supremacy of the people's will. On the contrary, having never in any 
manner, before the people or Congress, interfered in the slightest degree 
with the question, my conscience stands void of offense, and will go quietly 
with me, regardless of the insinuation^ of those who, through management, 
may seek an influence not sanctioned by iutegrity and merit." I am not 
aware that this defense of himself was rendered necessary by any charges 
brought forward against the general. Certainly I never made any such 
charges against him. I will not suppose that, in the passage cited, he in- 
tended to impute to me the misconduct which he describes, and yet, taking 
the whole context of his letter together, and coupling it with Mr. Kremer's 
address, it can not be disguised that others may suppose he intended to re- 
fer to me. I am quite sure that if he did, he could not have formed those 
unfavorable opinions of me upon any personal observation of my conduct 
made by himself; for a supposition that they were founded upon his own 
knowledge, would imply that my lodgings and my person had been sub- 
jected to a system of espionage wholly incompatible with the open, manly, 
and honorable conduct of a gallant soldier. If he designed any insinua- 
tions against me, I must believe that he made them upon the information of 
others, of whom I can ouly say that they have deceived his credulity, and 
are entirely unworthy of all credit. I entered into no cabals ; I held no 



318 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

secret conclaves ; I enticed no man to violate pledges given or instructions 
received. The members from Ohio, and from the other western States, 
with whom I voted, were all of them as competent as I was to form an 
opinion on the pending election. The McArtlmrs and the Metcalfs, and 
the other gentlemen from the West (some of whom have, if I have not, 
bravely " made an effort to repel an invading foe"), are as incapable of dis- 
honor as any men breathing ; as disinterested, as unambitious, as exclu- 
sively devoted to the bests interests of their country. It was quite as 
likely that I should be influenced by them as that I could control their 
votes. Our object was not to impair, but to preserve from all danger the 
purity of our republican institutions. And how I prostrated the maxim 
which maintains the supremacy of the people's will I am entirely at a loss 
to comprehend. The illusions of the general's imagination deceive him. 
The people of the United States had never decided the election in his fa- 
vor. If the people had willed his election, he would have been elected. It 
was because they had not willed his election, nor that of any other can- 
didate, that the duty of making a choice devolved on the House of Rep- 
resentatives. The general remarks : 

" Mr. Clay has never yet risked himself for his country. He has never sacri- 
ficed his repose, nor made an effort to repel an invading foe ; of course his con- 
science assured him it was altogether wrong in any other man to lead his coun- 
trymen to battle and victory." 

The logic of this conclusion is not very striking. General Jackson 
fio-hts better than he reasons. When have I failed to concur in awarding 
appropriate honors to those who, on the sea or on the land, have sustained 
the glory of our arms, if I could not always approve of the acts of some 
of them ? It is true that it has been my misfortune never to have repelled 
an invading foe, nor to have led my countrymen to victory. If I had, I 
should have left to others to proclaim and appreciate the deed. The gen- 
eral's destiny and mine have led us in different directions. In the civil 
employments of my country, to which I have been confined, I regret that 
the little service which I have been able to render it falls far short of my 
wishes. But why this denunciation of those who have not repelled an in- 
vading foe, or led our armies to victory ? At the very moment when he 
is inveighing against an objection to his election to the presidency, founded 
upon the exclusive military nature of his merits, does he not perceive that 
he is establishing its validity by proscribing every man who has not suc- 
cessfully fought the public enemy; and that, by such a general proscrip- 
tion, and the requirement of successful military service as the only condi- 
tion of civil preferment, the inevitable effect would be the ultimate estab- 
lishment of a military government ? 

If the contents of the letter to Mr. Swartwout, were such as justly to 
excite surprise, there were other circumstances not calculated to diminish 
it. Of all the citizens of the United States, that gentleman is one of the 
last to whom it was necessary to address any vindication of General Jack- 



MR. CLAY'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 319 

son. lie had given abundant evidence of his entire devotion to the cause 
of the general. He was here after the election, and was one of a com- 
mittee who invited the general to a public dinner, proposed to be given to 
him in this place. My letter to Judge Brooke was published in the papers 
of this city on the 12th of February. The general's note, declining the 
invitation of Messrs. Swartwout and others, was published on the 14th, 
in the National Journal. The probability, therefore, is that he did not 
leave this city until after he had a full opportunity to receive, in a per- 
sonal interview with the general, any verbal observations upon it which he 
might have thought proper to make. The letter to Mr. Swartwout, 
bears date the 23d of February. If received by him in New York, it 
must have reached him, in the ordinary course of mail, on the 2oth 
or 26th. Whether intended or not as a " private communication," 
and noL for the "public eye," as alleged by him, there is much probabil- 
ity in believing that its publication in New York, on the 4th of March, 
was then made, like Mr. Kremer's address, with the view to its ar- 
rival in this city in time to affect my nomination to the Senate. In 
point of fact, it reached here the day before the Senate acted on that 
nomination. 

Fellow-citizens, I am sensible that, generally, a public officer had better 
abstain from any vindication of his conduct, and leave it to the candor 
and justice of his countrymen, under all its attending circumstances. 
Such has been the course which I have heretofore prescribed to myself. 
This is the first, as I hope it may be the last, occasion of my thus appear- 
ing before you. The separation which has just takan place between us, 
and the venom, if not the vigor of the late onsets upon my public conduct, 
will, I hope, be allowed in this instance to form an adequate apology. It 
has been upward of twenty years since I first entered the public service. 
Nearly three fourths of that time, with some intermissions, I have repre- 
sented the same district in Congress, with but little variation in its form. 
During that long period, you have beheld our country passing through 
scenes of peace and war, of prosperity and adversity, and of party divis- 
ions, local and general, often greatly exasperated against each other. I 
have been an actor iu most of those scenes. Throughout the whole of 
them, you have clung to me with an affectionate confidence which has 
never been surpassed. I have found in your attachment, iu every embar- 
rassment in my public career, the greatest consolation, and the most en- 
couraging support. I should regard the loss of it as one of the most af- 
flicting public misfortunces which could befall me. That I have often 
misconceived your true interests, is highly probable. That I have ever 
sacrificed them to the object of personal aggrandizement, I utterly deny. 
And, for the purity of my motives, however in other respects I may be 
unworthy to approach the throne of grace and mercy, I appeal to the 
justice of my God, with all the confidence which can flow from a con- 
sciousness of nerfect rectitude. 



ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1825. 

LEWISBURG, VIRGINIA, AUGUST 30, 1826. 

[The preliminary correspondence which led to the following 
speech, will indicate the circumstances and the occasion. It is 
virtually an amplification of the previously-recorded address of 
Mr. Clay to his constituents, but touches more on the policy of 
the new administration than personal matters. As the persecu- 
tion of Mr. Clay by General Jackson and his party was rampant 
at this time, and continued in aggravated forms during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Adams, whenever he spoke in public it was 
natural and unavoidable that he should allude to this state of 
things. This invitation to Lewisburg was occasioned by a feel- 
ing of sympathy with Mr. Clay, as well as by admiration of his 
talents and character. It was, doubtless, mutually agreeable to 
the parties — the guest and the entertainers — and gave Mr. Clay 
an opportunity to say something of the administration of which 
he was a member, and which was assailed by the Jackson party, 
already at war with it.] 

Lewisburg, August 23d, 1826. 
The Honorable Henry Clay : 

Sir, at a meeting of a respectable number of the inhabitants of Lewisburg and 
its vicinity, convened in the court-house on the 22d instant, it was unanimously 
determined to greet your arrival among them by some public demonstration of 
the respect which they in common with a great portion of the community feel 
toward one of their most distinguished fellow-citizens. It was therefore unani- 
mously resolved, as the most eligible means of manifesting their feelings, to re- 
quest the honor of your presence at a public dinner to be given at the tavern of 
Mr. Frazer, in the town of Lewisburg, on Wednesday the 30th instant. 

In pursuance of the above measures, we, as a committee, have been ap- 
pointed to communicate their resolutions and solicit a compliance with their 
invitation. In performing this agreeable duty, we can not but express our ad- 
miration of the uniform course which, during a long political career, you have 
pursued with so much honor to yourself and country. Although the detractions 
of envy, and the violence of party feeling have endeavored to blast your fair 
reputation, and destroy the confidence reposed in you by the citizens of the 
United States, we rejoice to inform you, that the people of the western part of 



ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1825. 321 

that Slate which claims you as one of its most gifted sons, still retain the same 
high feeling of respect, wluch they have always manifested, in spite of the male- 
dictions and bickerings of disappointed editors and interested politicians. We 
can not close our communication without hailing you as one of the most dis- 
tinguished advocates of that system of internal improvement which has already 
proved so beneficial to our country, and which at no distant period will make 
even these desert mountains to blossom as the rose. 

We have the honor to subscribe ourselves, yours with esteem, 
J. Gr. M'Clenachen, John Beirne, 

James M'Laughlin, J. A. North, 

J. F. Caldwell, Henry Erskine. 

White Sulphur Springs, IMh August, 1826. 
Gentlemen, I have received the note which you did me the honor on yester- 
day to address to me, inviting me, in behalf of a respectable number of the 
citizens of Lewisburg and its vicinity, to a public dinner at Mr. Frazer's tavern, 
on Wednesday next, which they have the goodness to propose, in consequence 
of my arrival among them as a manifestation of their respect. Such a compli- 
ment was most unexpected by me on a journey to Washington, by this route, 
recommended to my choice by the pure air of a mountain region, and justly- 
famed mineral waters, a short use of which I hoped might contribute to the 
perfect re-establishment of my health. The gratification which I derive from 
this demonstration of kindness and confidence, springs in no small degree, from 
the consideration that it is the spontaneous testimony of those with whom I 
share a common origin, in a venerated State, endeared to me by an early tie 
of respect and affection, which no circumstance can ever dissolve. In com- 
municating to that portion of the citizens of Lewisburg and its vicinity, who 
have been pleased thus to favor me, by their distinguished notice, my ac- 
ceptance of their hospitable invitation, I pray you to add my profound ac- 
knowledgments. And of the friendly and nattering manner in which you 
conveyed it, and for the generous sympathy, characteristic of Virginia, which 
you are so obliging as to express, on account of the detractions of which I have 
been the selected object, and the meditated victim, be assured that I shall al- 
ways retain a lively and grateful remembrance. 

I am, gentlemen, with great esteem and regard, faithfully, your obedient 
servant, 

Henry Claz; 

Messrs. MClenachen, North, M'Laughlin, Caldwell Beirne, and Erskine, 
etc., etc. 

TOAST 

Seventh. Our distinguished guest, Henry Clay — the statesman, orator, pat- 
riot, and philanthropist : his splendid talents shed luster on his native State, his 
eloquence is an ornament to his country. 

When this toast was drunk, Mr. Clay rose, and said, that he had never 
before felt so intensely the want of those powers of eloquence which had 
been erroneously ascribed to him. He hoped, however, that in his plain 
and unaffected language he might be allowed, without violating any es- 
tablished usage which prevails here, to express his grateful sensibility, ex- 

21 



322 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

cited by the sentiment with which he had been honored, and for the kind 
and respectful consideration of him manifested on the occasion which had 
brought them together. In passing through my native State, said he, 
toward which I have ever borne, and shall continue, in all vicissitudes, to 
cherish, the geatest respect and affection, I expected to be treated with its 
accustomed courtesy and private hospitality. But I did not anticipate that 
I should be the object of such public, distinguished, and cordial manifesta- 
tions of regard. In offering you my poor and inadequate return of my 
warm and respectful thanks, I pray you to believe that I shall treasure up 
these testimonies among the most gratifying reminiscences of my life. 
The public service which I have rendered my country, your too favorable 
opinion of which has prompted you to exhibit these demonstrations of your 
esteem, has fallen far below the measure of usefulness, which I should have 
been happy to have filled. I claim for it only the humble merit of pure 
and patriotic intention. Such as it has been, I have not always been for- 
tunate enough to give satisfaction to every section and to all the great in- 
terests of our country. 

When an attempt was made to impose upon a new State, about to 
be admitted into the Union, restrictions, incompatible, as I thought with 
her coequal sovereign power, I was charged in the North with be- 
ing too partial to the South, and as being friendly to that unfortunate 
condition of slavery, of the evils of which none are more sensible than 
I am. 

At another period, when I believed that the industry of this country 
required some protection against the selfish and contracted legislation of 
foreign powers, and to constitute it a certain and safe source of supply, in 
all exigences ; the charge against me was transposed, and I was converted 
into a foe of southern, and an infatuated friend of northern and western 
interests. 

There were not wanting persons in every section of the Union, in an- 
other stage of our history, to accuse me with rashly contributing to the 
support of a war, the only alternative left to our honor by the persevering 
injustice of a foreign nation. These contradictory charges and perverted 
views gave me no concern, because I was confident that time and truth 
would prevail over all misconceptions, and because they did not impeach 
my public integrity. But I confess I was not prepared to expect the as- 
persions which I have experienced on account of a more recent discharge 
of public duty. My situation on the occasion to which I refer, was most 
peculiar and extraordinary, unlike that of any other American citizen. 
One of the three candidates for the presidency presented to the choice of 
the House of Representatives, was out of the question, for notorious reasons 
now admitted by all. Limited as the competition was to the other two, I 
had to choose between a statesman long experienced at home and abroad 
in numerous civil situations, and a soldier, brave, gallant, and successful, 
but a mere soldier, who, although he had also filled several civil offices, 



ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1825. 323 

had quickly resigned them all, frankly acknowledging, in some instances, 
his incompetency to discharge their duties. 

It has been said that I had some differences with the present chief 
magistrate at Ghent. It is true that we did not agree on one of tho 
many important questions which arose during the negotiations in that city, 
but the difference equally applied to our present minister at London and to 
the lamented Bayard, between whom and myself, although we belonged to 
opposite political parties, there existed a warm friendship to the hour of 
his death. It was not of a nature to prevent our co-operation together 
in the public service, as is demonstrated by the convention at London 
subsequently negotiated by Messrs. Adams, Gallatin, and myself. It was 
a difference of opinion on a point of expediency, and did not relate to 
any constitutional or fundamental principle. But with respect to the con- 
duct of the distinguished citizen of Tennessee, I had solemnly expressed, 
under the highest obligations, opinions, which, whether right or wrong, 
were sincerely and honestly entertained, and are still held. These opinions 
related to a military exercise of power believed to be arbitrary and uncon- 
stitutional. I should have justly subjected myself to the grossest incon- 
sistency, if I had given him my suffrage. I thought if he were elected, 
the sword and the Constitution, bad companions, would be brought too 
near together. I could not have foreseen that, fully justified as I have 
been by those very constituents, in virtue of whose authority I exerted the 
right of free suffrage, I should nevertheless be charged with a breach of 
duty and corruption by strangers to them, standing in no relation to them 
but that of being citizens of other States, members of the confederacy. 
It is in vain that these revilers have been called upon for their proofs ; 
have been defied, and are again invited, to enter upon any mode of fair in- 
vestigation and trial ; shrinking from every impartial examination, they 
persevere, with increased zeal, in the propagation of calumny, under the 
hope of supplying by the frequency and boldness of asseveration, the want 
of truth and the deficiency of evidence ; until we have seen the spectacle 
exhibited of converting the hall of the first legislative assembly upon earth, 
on the occasion of discussions which above all others should have been 
characterized by dignity, calmness, and temperance, into a theater for 
spreading suspicions and groundless imputations against an absent and in- 
nocent individual. 

Driven from every other hold, they have seized on the only plank left 
within their grasp, that of my acceptance of the office of Secretary of 
State, which has been asserted to be the consummation of a previous cor- 
rupt arrangement. What can I oppose to such an assertion, but positive, 
peremptory, and unqualified denial, and a repetition of the demand for 
proof and trial ? The office to which I have been appointed is that of the 
country, created by it, and administered for its benefit. In deciding whether 
I should accept it or not, I did not take counsel from those who, foreseeing 
the probability of my designation for it, sought to deter me from its accept- 



324 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

ance by fabricating anticipated charges, which would have been preferred 
with the same zeal and alacrity, however I might have decided. I took 
counsel from my friends, from my duty, from my conscious innocence of 
unworthy and false imputations. I was not left at liberty by either my 
enemies or my friends to decline the office. I would willingly have de- 
clined it from an unaffected distrust of my ability to perform its high duties, 
if I could have houorably declined it. I hope the uniform tenor of my 
whole public life will protect me against the supposition of any unreason- 
able avidity for public employment. During the administration of that 
illustrious man, to whose civil services more than to those of any other 
American patriot, living or dead, this country is indebted for the blessings 
of its present Constitution, now more than ten years ago, the mission to 
Russia, and a place in his cabinet, were successively offered me. A place 
in his cabinet, at that period of my life, was more than equivalent to any 
place under any administration at my present more advanced age. His 
immediate successor tendered to me the same place in his cabinet, which 
he anxiously urged me to accept, and the mission to England. Gentlemen, 
I hope you will believe that far from being impelled by any vain or 
boastful spirit, to mention these things, I do it with humility and morti- 
fication. 

If I had refused the Department of State, the same individuals who now, 
in the absence of all proof, against all probability, and in utter disregard 
of all truth, proclaim the existence of a corrupt previous arrangement, 
would have propagated the same charge with the same affected confidence 
which they now unblushingly assume. And it would have been said, with 
at least much plausibility, that I had contributed to the election of a chief 
magistrate, of whom I thought so unfavorably that I would not accept that 
place in his cabinet which is generally regarded as the first. I thought it 
my duty, unawed by their denunciations, to proceed in the office assigned 
me by the president and Senate, to render the country the best service of 
which my poor abilities are capable. If this administration should show 
itself unfriendly to American liberty and to free and liberal institutions; 
if it should be conducted upon a system adverse to those principles of 
public policy, which I have ever endeavored to sustain, and I should be 
found still clinging to office ; then nothing which could be said by those 
who are inimical to me, would be undeserved. 

But the president ought not to have appointed one who had voted for 
him. Mr. Jefferson did not think so, who called to his cabinet a gentleman 
who had voted for him in the most warmly contested election that has 
ever occurred in the House of Representatives, and who appointed to other 
highly important offices other members of the same House, who voted for 
him. Mr. Madison did not think so, who did not feel himself restrained 
from sending me on a foreign service, because I had supported his elec- 
tion. Mr. Monroe did not think so, who appointed in his cabinet a gen- 
tleman, now filling the second office in the government, who attended the 



ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1825. 325 

caucus that nominated and warmly and efficiently espoused bis election. 
But, suppose the president acted upon the most disinterested doctrine which 
is now contended for by those who opposed his election, and were to ap- 
point to public office from their ranks only, to the entire exclusion of those 
who voted for him, would he then escape their censure ? No ! we have 
seen him charged, for that equal distribution of the public service among 
every class of citizens, which has hitherto characterized his administra- 
tion, with the nefarious purpose of buying up portions of the community. 
A spirit of denunciation is abroad. With some, condemnation, right or 
wrong, is the order of the day. No matter what prudence and wisdom 
may stamp the measures of the administration, no matter how much the 
prosperity of the country may be advanced, or what public evils may be 
averted, under its guidance, there are persons who would make general, 
indiscriminate, and interminable opposition. This is not a fit occasion, nor 
perhaps am I a fit person, to enter upon a vindication of its measures. But 
I hope I shall be excused for asking what measure of domestic policy has 
been proposed or recommended by the present executive, which has not 
its prototype in previous acts or recommendations of administrations at 
the head of which was a citizen of Viroiaia ? Can the liberal and hioh- 
minded people of this State condemn measures emanating from a citizen 
of Massachusetts, which, when proposed by a Virginian, commanded their 
express assent or silent acquiescence, or to which, if in any instance they 
made opposition, it was respectful, limited, and qualified ? The present 
administration desires only to be judged by its measures, and invites the 
strictest scrutiny and the most watchful vigilance on the part of the public. 

With respect to the Panama mission, it is true that it was not recom- 
mended by any preceding administration, because the circumstances of the 
world were not then such as to present it as a subject for discussion. But 
during that of Mr. Monroe, it has been seen that it w T as a matter of con- 
sideration, and there is every reason to believe, if he were now at the 
head of affairs, his determination would correspond with that of his suc- 
cessor. Let me suppose that it was the resolution of this country, under 
no circumstances, to contract with foreign powers intimate public engage- 
ments, and to remain altogether unbound by any treaties of alliance ; what 
should have been the course taken with the very respectful invitation which 
was given to the United States to be represented at Panama ? Haughtily 
folding your arms, would you have given it a cold and abrupt refusal ? 
Or would you not rather accept it, send ministers, and in a friendly and 
respectful manner, endeavor to satisfy those who are looking to us for 
counsel and example, and imitating our free institutions, that there is no 
necessity for such an alliance ; that the dangers which alone could, in the 
opinion of any one, have justified it, have vanished, and that it is not 
good for them or for us ? 

What may be the nature of the instructions with which our ministers 
may be charged, it is not proper that I should state ; but all candid and 



326 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

reflecting men must admit that we have great interests in connection with 
the southern republics, independent of any compacts of alliance. Those 
republics, now containing a population of upward of twenty millions, 
duplicating their numbers probably in periods still shorter than we do, 
comprising within their limits the most abundant sources of the precious 
metals, offer to our commerce, to our manufactures, to our naviga- 
tion, so many advantages, that none can doubt the expediency of culti- 
vating the most friendly relations with them. If treaties of commerce 
and friendship, and liberal stipulations in respect to neutral and bel- 
ligerent rights, could be negotiated with each of them at its separate seat 
of government, there is no doubt that much greater facilities for the con- 
clusion of such treaties present themselves at a point where, all being 
represented, the way may be smoothed and all obstacles removed by a 
disclosure of the views and wishes of all, and by mutual and friendly 
explanations. There was one consideration which had much weight 
with the executive, in the decision to accept the mission ; and that 
was the interest which this country has, and especially the southern 
States, in the fate and fortunes of the island of Cuba. No subject of 
our foreign relations has created with the executive government more 
anxious concern, than that of the condition of that island and the pos- 
sibility of prejudice to the southern States, from the convulsions to 
which it might be exposed. It was believed, and is yet believed, that the 
dangers which, in certain contingences, might threaten our quiet and 
safety, may be more successfully averted at a place at which all the Amer- 
ican powers should be represented than anywhere else. And I have no 
hesitation in expressing the firm conviction that, if there be one section of 
this Union more than all others interested in the Panama mission, and the 
benefits which may flow from it, that section is the South. It was, there- 
fore, with great and unaffected surprise that I witnessed the obliquity of 
these political views which led some gentlemen from that quarter to regard 
the measure, as it might operate on the southern States, in an unfavorable 
light. Whatever may be the result of the mission, its moral effect in 
Europe will be considerable, and it can not fail to make the most friendly 
impressions upon our southern neighbors. It is one of which it is difficult, 
in sober imagination, to conceive any possible mischievous consequences, 
and wdiich the executive could not have declined, in my opinion, Avithout 
culpable neglect of the interests of this country, and without giving dis- 
satisfaction to nations whose friendship we are called upon by every dictate 
of policy to conciliate. 

There are persons who would impress on the southern States the belief 
that they have just cause of apprehending danger to a certain portion of 
their property from the present administration. It is not difficult to com- 
prehend the object and the motive of these idle alarms. What measure 
of the present administration gives any just occasion for the smallest ap- 
prehension to the tenure by which that species of property Is held ? How- 



ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1825. 327 

ever much the president and the members of his administration may 
deprecate the existence of slavery among us, as the greatest evil with 
which we are afflicted, there is not one of them that does not believe that 
the Constitution of the general government confers no authority to inter- 
pose between the master and his slave, none to apply an adequate remedy, 
if indeed there be any remedy within the scope of human power. Suppose 
an object of these alarmists were accomplished, and the slaveholding 
States were united in the sentiment, that the policy of this government, in 
all time to come, should be regulated on the basis of the fact of slavery, 
would not union on the one side lead to union on the other ? And would 
not such a fatal division of the people and States of this confederacy pro- 
duce perpetual mutual irritation and exasperation, and ultimately disunion 
itself? The slaveholding States can not forget .that they are now in a 
minority, Avhich is in a constant relative diminution, and should certainly 
not be the first to put forth a principle of public action by which they 
would be the greatest losers. 

I am but too sensible of the unreasonable trespass on your time which I 
have committed, and of the egotism of which my discourse has partaken. 
I must depend for my apology upon the character of the times, on the 
venom of the attacks which have been made upon my character and con- 
duct, and upon the generous sympathy of the gentlemen here assembled. 
During this very journey a paper has been put into my hands in which a 
member of the House of Representatives is represented to have said that 
the distinguished individual at the head of the government, and myself, 
have been indicted by the people. If that is the case, I presume that some 
defense is lawful. By-the-by, if the honorable member is to have the sole 
conduct of the prosecution without the aid of other counsel, I think that it 
is not difficult to predict that his clients will be nonsuited, and that they 
will be driven out of court with the usual judgment pronounced in such 
cases. 

In conclusion, I beg leave to offer a toast which, if you are as dry as I 
am, will, I hope, be acceptable for the sake of the wine if not the senti- 
ment : 

" The continuation of the turnpike road which passes through Lewis- 
burg, and success to the cause of internal improvement, under every 
auspice." 

He then took his seat amid the repeated cheers of the whole company. 



AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 

AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SO- 
CIETY, "WASHINGTON, JANUARY 20 1827. 

[From almost the first start of African Colonization, Mr. 
Clay took an interest in it, and that interest increased to the 
day of his death. He was for many years president of the So- 
ciety, and never failed to give it his countenance and support 
when he could. He made several important speeches in its be- 
half, of which the following is one. He has incorporated this 
scheme in his project of emancipation for the State of Ken- 
tucky, published in 1849, and found in the third volume of this 
work.* Mr. Clay was never a man to think that slavery must 
endure forever in this country. Look at the remarkable pas- 
sages italicised in the following speech, and consider the stand 
he took in the Compromises of 1850, against the extension of 
slavery. He would go as far as the farthest for the constitu- 
tional rights of the slave States ; but his voice and feelings 
were : Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. As a friend 
of Colonization, however, he would never consent that it should 
interfere with slavery ; but, in his view, the simple and restricted 
mission of Colonization was to operate on the free colored pop- 
ulation, in the free and slave States ; and this he regarded as 
beneficent in the present and in the future. 

The present condition and prospects of the Colony of Liberia 
(1856), have more than realized the most sanguine hopes of Mr. 
Clay and others in the early stages of its history. It has a dis- 
tinct and recognized political existence among nations, and is as 
likely to rise and increase in importance as any State that is yet 
in a small beginning. It has all the elements of growth and 
importance, with the moral advantage of the favor of the civil- 
ized world. No Christian nation would plant any obstacle in 
the way of its progress ; and with such a start, in such circum- 
stances, it can not fail to become a bright spot of Christian 

* Last Seven Years of the Life of Henry Clay, page 346. 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 329 

civilization and of freedom on the western coast of Africa — des- 
tined, no doubt, to extend its benign influence widely over that 
Continent.] 

Mr. Clay said : I can not withhold the expression of my congratula- 
tions to the Society, on account of the very valuable acquisition which we 
have obtained in the eloquent gentleman from Boston (Mr. Knapp), who 
has just before favored us with an address. He has told us of his original 
impressions, unfavorable to the object of the Society, and of his subsequent 
conversion. If the same industry, investigation, and unbiased judgment, 
manifested by himself and another gentleman (Mr. Powell), who avowed 
at the last meeting of the Society a similar change wrought in his mind, 
were carried by the public at large, into the consideration of the plan of 
the Society, the conviction of its utility would be universal. 

I have arisen to submit a resolution, in behalf of which I would bespeak 
the favor of the Society. But before I offer any observations in its sup- 
port, I must say that, whatever part I shall take in the proceedings of this 
Society, whatever opinions or sentiments I may utter, they are exclusively 
my own. Whether they are worth any thing or not, no one but myself 
is at all responsible for them. I have consulted with no person out of 
this Society, and I have especially abstained from all communication or 
consultation with any one to whom I stand in any official relation. My 
judgment on the object of this Society has been long since deliberately 
formed. The conclusions to which, after much and anxious consideration, 
my mind has been brought, have been neither produced nor refuted, by 
the official station, the duties of which have been confided to me. 

From the origin of this Society, every member of it has, I believe, 
looked forward to the arrival of a period, when it would become necessary 
to invoke the public aid in the execution of the great scheme which it was 
instituted to promote. Considering itself as the mere pioneer in the cause 
which it had undertaken, it was well aware that it could do no more than 
remove preliminary difficulties, and point out a sure road to ultimate suc- 
cess ; and that the public only could supply that regular, steady, and effi- 
cient support, to which the gratuitous means of benevolent individuals 
would be found incompetent. My surprise has been, that the Society has 
been able so long to sustain itself, and to do so much upon the charitable 
contributions of good, and pious, and enlightened men, whom it has hap- 
pily found in all parts of our country. But our work has so prospered 
and grown under our hands, that the appeal to the power and resources 
of the public, should be no longer deferred. The resolution which I have 
risen to propose, contemplates this appeal. It is in the following words : 

"Resolved, that the board of managers be empowered and directed, at 
such time or times as may seem to them expedient, to make respectful ap- 
plication to the Cougress of the United States, and to the Legislatures of 



330 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the different States, for such pecuniary aid, in futherance of the object of 
this Society, as they may respectively be pleased to grant." 

In soliciting the countenance and support of the Legislatures of the 
Union and States, it is incumbent on the Society, in making out its case, to 
show, first, that it offers to their consideration a scheme which is practic- 
able, and secondly, that the execution of the practicable scheme, partial or 
entire, will be fraught with such beneficial consequences as to merit the 
support which is solicited. I believe both points to be maintainable. 

First, it is now a little upward of ten years since a religious, amiable, 
and benevolent resident of this city, first conceived the idea of planting a 
colony, from the United States, of free people of color, on the western 
shores of Africa. He is no more, and the noblest eulogy which could be 
pronounced on him would be, to inscribe upon his tomb, the merited 
epitaph, " Here lies the projector of the American Colonization Society." 

Among others, to whom he communicated the project, was the person 
who now has the honor of addressing you. My first impessions, like those 
of all who have not fully investigated the subject, were against it. They 
yielded to his earnest persuasions and my own reflections, and I finally 
agreed with him that the experiment was worthy of a fair trial. A meet- 
ing of its friends was called, organized as a deliberative body, and a Constitu- 
tion was formed. The Society went into operation. He lived to see the 
most encouraging progress in its exertions, and died in full confidence of 
its complete success.* The Society was scarcely formed before it was ex- 
posed to the derision of the unthinking ; pronounced to be visionary and 
chimerical by those who were capable of adopting wiser opinions, and the 
most confident predictions of its entire failure were put forth. It found 
itself equally assailed by the two extremes of public sentiment in regard 
to our African population. According to one (that rash class which, 
without a due estimate of the fatal consequence, would forthwith issue a 
decree of general, immediate, and indiscriminate emancipation), it was a 
scheme of the slaveholder to perpetuate slavery. The other (that class 
which believes slavery a blessing, and which trembles with aspen sensibil- 
ity at the appearance of the most distant and ideal danger to the tenure by 
which that description of property is held), declared it a contrivance to let 
loose on society all the slaves of the country, ignorant, uneducated, and 
incapable of appreciating the value or enjoying the privileges of freedom. 
The Society saw itself surrounded by every sort of embarrassment. What 
great human enterprise was ever undertaken without difficulty ? What 
ever failed, within the compass of human power, when pursued with per- 
severance and blessed by the smiles of Providence ? The Society prose- 
cuted undismayed its great work, appealing for succor to the moderate, the 
reasonable, the virtuous, and religious portions of the public. It protested, 

* Mr. Caldwell. The Rev. Robert Finley, of New Jersey, was the first mover in 
African Colonization, and Mr. Caldwell was chieflv instrumental in the organization 
of the Society. 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 331 

from the commencement, and throughout all its progress, and it now pro- 
tests, that it entertains no purpose, on its own authority or by its own 
means, to attempt emancipation, partial or general ; that it knows the gen- 
eral government has no constitutional power to achieve such an object; 
that it believes that the States, and the States only, which tolerate slavery, 
can accomplish the work of emancipation ; and that it ought to be left to 
them, exclusively, absolutely, and voluntarily, to decide the question. 

The object of the Society was the colonization of the free colored people, 
not the slaves, of the country. Voluntary in its institution, voluntary in 
its continuance, voluntary in all its ramifications, all its means, purposes, 
and instruments, are also voluntary, But it was said that no free colored 
persons could be prevailed upon to abandon the comforts of civilized life 
and expose themselves to all the perils of a settlement in a distant, inhos- 
pitable, and savage country ; that, if they could be induced to go on such 
a quixotic expedition, no territory could be procured for their establishment 
as a colony ; that the plan was altogether incompetent to effectuate its pro- 
fessed object ; and that it ought to be rejected as the idle dream of vision- 
ary enthusiasts. The Society has outlived, thank God, all these disastrous 
predictions. It has survived to swell the list of false prophets. It is no 
longer a question of speculation whether a colony can or can not be plant- 
ed from the United States of free persons of color on the shores of Africa. 
It is a matter demonstrated ; such a colony, in fact, exists, prospers, has 
made successful war, and honorable peace, and transacts all the multiplied 
business of a civilized and Christian community. It now has about five 
hundred souls, disciplined troops, forts, and other means of defense, sover- 
eignty over an extensive territory, and exerts a powerful and salutary in- 
fluence over the neighboring clans. 

[Numbers of the free African race among us are willing to go to Africa. 
The Society has never experienced any difficulty on that subject, except 
that its means of comfortable transportation have been inadequate to ac- 
commodate all who have been anxious to migrate. Why should they not 
go ? Here they are in the lowest state of social gradation ; aliens — polit- 
ical, moral, social aliens — strangers, though natives. There, they would be 
in the midst of their friends, and their kindred, at home, though born in a 
foreign land, and elevated above the natives of the country, as much as they 
are degraded here below the other classes of the community. But on this 
matter, I am happy to have it in ray power to furnish indisputable evidence 
from the most authentic source, that of large numbers of free persons of 
color themselvesj Numerous meetings have been held in several churches 
in Baltimore, of the free people of color, in which, after being organized as 
deliberative assemblies, by the appointment of a chairman (if not of the 
same complexion) presiding as you, Mr. Vice-president, do, and secretaries, 
they have voted memorials addressed to the white people, in which they 
have argued the question with an ability, moderation, and temper, surpass- 
ing any that I can command, and emphatically recommended the colony 



332 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of Liberia to favorable consideration, as the most desirable and practicable 
scheme ever yet presented on this interesting subject. I ask permission of 
the Society to read this highly creditable document. 

[Here Mr. Clay read the memorial referred to.] 

The Society has experienced no difficulty in the acquisition of a territory, 
upon reasonable terms, abundantly sufficient for a most extensive colony. 
And land in ample quantities, it has ascertained, can be procured in Africa, 
together with all rights of sovereignty, upon conditions as favorable as 
those on which the United States extinguish the Indian title to territory 
within their own limits. 

\fn respect to the alleged incompetency of the scheme to accomplish its 
professed objects, the Society asks that that object should be taken to be, 
not what the imaginations of its enemies represent it to be, but what it 
really proposes. They represent that the purpose of the Society is, to ex- 
port the whole African population of the United States, bond and free ; and 
they pronounce this design to be unattainable. They declare that the 
means of the whole country are insufficient to affect the transportation to 
Africa of a mass of population approximating to two million of souls. 
Agreed ; but that is not what the Society contemplates. They have substi- 
tuted their own notion for that of the Society. What is the true nature of 
the evil of the existence of a portion of the African race in our population ? 
It is not that there are some, but that there are so many among us of a 
different caste, of a different physical, if not moral, constitution, who never 
can amalgate with the great body of our population. In every country, per- 
sons are to be found varying iu their color, origin, and character, from the 
native mass. But this anomaly creates no inquietude or apprehension, be- 
cause the exotics, from the smallness of their number, are known to be 
utterly incapable of disturbing the general tranquillity. Here, on the 
contrary, the African part of our population bears so large a proportion to 
the residue, of European origin, as to create the most lively apprehension, 
especially in some quarters of the Union. Any project, therefore, by which, 
in a material degree, the dangerous element in the general mass, can be di- 
minished or rendered stationary, deserves deliberate consideration^ 

The Colonization Society has never imagined it to be practicable, or with- 
in the reach of any means which the several governments of the Union could 
bring to bear on the subject, to transport the whole of the African race 
within the limits of the United States. Nor is that necessary to accomplish 
the desirable objects of domestic tranquillity, and render us one homoge- 
neous people. The population of the United States has been supposed to 
duplicate in periods of twenty-five years. That may have been the case 
heretofore, but the terms of duplication will be more and more protracted 
as we advance in national age ; and I do not believe that it will be found, 
iu any period to come, that our numbers will be doubled in a less term 
than one of about thirty-three and a third years. I have not time to entei 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 333 

now into details in support of this opinion. They would consist of those 
checks which experience has shown to obstruct the progress of population, 
arising out of its actual augmentation and density, the settlement of waste 
lands, etc. Assuming the, period of thirty-three and a third, or any other 
number of years, to be that in Avhich our population will hereafter be 
doubled, if, during that whole term, the capital of the African stock could 
be kept down, or statiouary, while that of European origin should be left 
to an unobstructed increase, the result, at the end of the term, would be 
most propitious. Let us suppose, for example, that the whole population 
at present of the United States, is twelve millions, of which ten may be es- 
timated of the Anglo-Saxon, and two of the African race. If there could 
be annually transported from the United States an amount of the African 
portion equal to the annual increase of the whole of that caste, while the 
European race should be left to multiply, we should find at the termination 
of the period of duplication, whatever it may be, that the relative propor- 
tions would be as twenty to two. And if the process were continued, dur- 
ing a second term of duplication, the proportion would be as forty to two 
— one which would eradicate every cause of alarm or solicitude from the 
breasts of the most timid. But the transportation of Africans, by creating, 
to the extent to which it might be carried, a vacuum in society, would 
tend to accelerate the duplication of the European race, who by all the 
laws of population, would fill up the void space. 

This Society is well aware, I repeat, that they can not touch the subject 
of slavery. But it is no objection to their scheme, limited, as it is, exclu- 
sively to those free people of color who are willing to migrate, that it ad- 
mits of indefinite extension and application, by those who alone, having the 
competent authority, may choose to adopt and apply it. Our object has 
been to point out the way, to show that colonization is practicable, and to 
leave it to those States or individuals who may be pleased to engage in the 
object, to prosecute it. We have demonstrated that a colony may be 
planted in Africa, by the fact that an American colony there exists. The 
problem which has so long and so deeply interested the thoughts of good 
and patriotic men, is solved ; a country and a home have been found, to 
which the African race may be sent, to the promotion of their happiness 
and our own. 

But, Mr. Vice-president, I shall not rest contented with the fact of the 
establishment of the colony, conclusive as it ought to be deemed, of the 
practicability of our purpose. I shall proceed to show, by reference to indis- 
putable statistical details and calculations, that it is within the compass of 
reasonable human means. I am sensible of the tediousness of all arithmet- 
ical data, but I will endeavor to simplify them as much as possible. It 
will be borne in mind that the aim of the Society is, to establish in Africa 
a colony of the free African population of the United States, to an extent 
which shall be beneficial both to Africa and America. The whole free 
colored population of the United States, amounted, in 1790, to fifty-nine 



334 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

thousand four hundred and eighty-one, in 1800, to one hundred and ten 
thousand and seventy-two; in 1810, to one hundred and eighty-six thou- 
sand four hundred and forty -six ; and in 1820, to two hundred and thirty- 
three thousand five hundred and thirty. The ratio of annual increase 
durino- the first term of ten years, was about eight and a half per cent, per 
annum ; during the second, about seven per cent, per annum ; and during 
the third, a little more than two and a half. The very great difference in 
the rate of annual increase, during those several terms, may probably be 
accounted for by the effect of the number of voluntary emancipations ope- 
rating with more influence upon the total smaller amount of free colored 
persons at the first of those periods, and by the facts of the insurrection in 
St. Domingo, and the acquisition of Louisiana, both of which, occurring 
during the first and second terms, added considerably to the number of our 
free colored population. 

Of all descriptions of our population, that of the free colored, taken in 
the aggregate, is the least prolific, because of the checks arising from vice 
and want. During the ten years, between 1810 and 1820, when no ex- 
traneous causes existed to prevent a fair competition in the increase be- 
tween the slave and the free African race, the former increased at the rate 
of nearly three per cent, per annum, while the latter did not much exceed 
.two and a half. Hereafter it may safely be assumed, and I venture to pre- 
dict will not be contradicted by the return of the next census, that the in- 
crease of the free black population will not surpass two and a half per cent, 
per annum. Their amount at the last census being two hundred and 
thirty-three thousand five hundred and thirty, for the sake of round num- 
bers, their annual increase may be assumed to be six thousand, at the 
present time. Now if this number could be annually transported from the 
United States during a term of years, it is evident that, at the end of that 
term, the parent capital will not have increased, but will have been kept 
down at least to what it was at the commencement of the term. Is it prac- 
ticable, then, to colonize annually six thousand persons from the United 
States, without materially impairing or affecting any of the great interests 
of the United States ? This is the question presented to the judgments of 
the legislative authorities of our country. This is the whole scheme of the 
Society. From its actual experience, derived from the expenses which have 
been incurred in transporting the persons already sent to Africa, the entire 
average expense of each colonist, young and old, including passage-money 
and subsistence, may be stated at twenty dollars per head. There is reason 
to believe that it may be reduced considerably below that sum. Estimat- 
ing that to be the expense, the total cost of transporting six thousand souls, 
annually to Africa, would be one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. 
The tonnage requisite to effect the object, calculating two persons to every 
five tons (which is the provision of existing law) would be fifteen thousand 
tons. But as each vessel could probably make two voyages in the year, it 
may be reduced to seven thousand five hundred. And as both our iner- 



ON AFKICAN COLONIZATION. 335 

cantile and military marine might be occasionally employed on this col- 
lateral service, without injury to the main object of the voyage, a further 
abatement might be safely made in the aggregate amount of the necessary 
tonnage. The navigation concerned in the commerce between the colony 
and the United States (and it already begins to supply subjects of an in- 
teresting trade) might be incidentally employed to the same end. 

Is the annual expenditure of a sum no larger than one hundred and 
twenty thousand dollars, and the annual employment of seven thousand five 
hundred tons of shipping too much for reasonable exertion, considering 
the magnitude of the object in view ? Are they not, on the contrary, 
within the compass of moderate efforts ? 

Here is the whole scheme of the Society — a project which has been 
pronounced visionary by those who have never given themselves the 
trouble to examine it, but to which I believe most unbiased men will yield 
their cordial assent, after they have investigated it. 

Limited as the project is, by the Society, to a colony to be formed by 
the free and unconstrained consent of free persons of color, it is no ob- 
jection, but, on the contrary, a great recommendation of the plan, that it 
admits of being taken up and applied on a scale of much more compre- 
hensive utility. The Society knows, and it affords just cause of felicitation, 
that all, or any one of the States which tolerate slavery, may carry the 
scheme of colonization into effect in regard to the slaves within their re- 
spective limits, and thus ultimately rid themselves of a universally ackowl- 
edged curse. A reference to the results of the several enumerations of the 
population of the United States will incontestably proye the practicability 
of its application on the more extensive scale. The slave population of 
the United States amounted, in 1790, to six hundred and ninety-seven 
thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven; in 1800, to eight hundred and 
ninety-six thousand, eight hundred and forty-nine; in 1810, to eleven hun- 
dred and ninety-one thousand, three hundred and sixty-four; and in 1820, 
to fifteen hundred and thirty-eight thousand, one hundred and twenty- 
eight. The rate of annual increase (rejecting fractions and taking the in- 
teger to which they made the nearest approach), during the first term of 
ten years, was not quite three per centum per annum ; during the second, 
a little more than three per centum per annum ; and during the third a 
little less than three per centum. The mean ratio of increase for the 
whole period of thirty years was very little more than three per centum 
per annum. During the first two periods, the native stock was augmented 
by importations from Africa in those States which continued to tolerate 
them, and by the acquisition of Louisiana. Virginia, to her eternal honor, 
abolished the abominable traffic among the earliest acts of her self-govern- 
ment. The last term alone presents the natural increase of the capital unaf- 
fected by any extraneous causes. That authorizes, as a safe assumption, that 
the future increase will not exceed three per centum per annum. As our 
population increases the value of slave-labor will diminish, in consequence of 



336 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

tbe superior advantages in the employment of free labor. And when the 
value of slave-labor shall be materially lessened, either by the multiplica- 
tion of the supply of slaves beyond the demand, or by the competition be- 
tween slave and free labor, the annual increase of slaves will be reduced, 
in consequence of the abatement of the motives to provide for and rear the 
offspring. 

Assuming the future increase to be at the rate of three per centum per 
annum, the annual addition to the number of slaves in the United States, 
calculated upon the return of the last census (one million five hundred 
and thirty-eight thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight), is forty -six 
thousand. Applying the data which have been already stated and ex- 
plained, in relation to the colonization of free persons of color from the 
United States to Africa, to the aggregate annual increase, both bond and 
free, of the African race, and the result will be found most encouraging. 
The total number of the annual increase of both descriptions is fifty-two 
thousand. The total expense of transporting that number to Africa (sup- 
posing no reduction of present prices), would be one million and forty 
thousand dollars, and the requisite amount of tonnage would be only one 
hundred and thirty thousand tons of shipping — about one ninth part of 
the mercantile marine of the United States. Upon the supposition of a 
vessel's making two voyages in the year, it would be reduced to one half, 
sixty-five thousand. Aud this quantity would be still further reduced, by 
embracing opportunities of incidental employment of vessels belonging 
both to the mercantile and military marines. 

But, is the annual application of one million and forty thousand dollars, 
and the employment of sixty-five or even one hundred and thirty thousand 
tons of shipping, considering the magnitude of the object, beyond the 
ability of this country ? Is there a patriot, looking forward to its domes- 
tic quiet, its happiness, and its glory, that would not cheerfully contribute 
his proportion of the burden, to accomplish a purpose so great and so 
humane ? During the general continuance of the African slave-trade, 
hundreds of thousands of slaves have been, in a single year, imported into 
the several countries whose laws authorized their admission. Notwithstand- 
ing the vigilance of the powers now engaged to suppress the slave-trade, 
I have received information, that in a single year, in the single island of 
Cuba, slaves equal in amount to one half of the above number of fifty-two 
thousand, have been illicitly introduced. Is it possible that those who are 
concerned in an infamous traffic can effect more than the States of this 
Union, if they were seriously to engage in the good work? Is it credible, 
is it not a libel upon humau nature to suppose, that the triumphs of fraud, 
and violence, and iniquity, can surpass those of virtue, and benevolence, 
and humanity ? 

The population of the United States being, at this time, estimated at 
about ten millions of the European race, and two of the African, on the 
supposition of the annual colonization of a number of the latter, equal to 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 337 

the annual increase, of both of its classes, during the whole period neces- 
sary to the process of duplication of our numbers, they would, at the end 
of that period, relatively stand twenty millions for the white and two for 
the black portion. But an annual exportation of a number equal to the 
annual increase, at the beginning of the term, and persevered in to the 
end of it, would accomplish more than to keep the parent stock stationary. 
The colonists would comprehend more than an equal proportion of those 
of the prolific ages. Few of those who had passed that age would 
migrate. So that the annual increase of those left behind, would continue 
gradually, but at first insensibly, to diminish ; and by the expiration of the 
period of duplication, it would be found to have materially abated. But 
it is not merely the greater relative safety and happiness which would, at 
the termination of that period, be the condition of the whites. Their abil- 
ity to give further stimulus to the cause of colonization will have been 
doubled, while the subjects on which it would have to operate, will have 
decreased or remained stationary. If the business of colonization should 
be regularly continued, during two periods of duplication, at the end of 
the second, the whites would stand to the blacks, as forty millions to not 
more than two, while the same ability will have been quadrupled. Even 
if colonization should then altogether cease, the proportion of the African 
to the European race will be so small, that the most timid may then, for- 
ever, dismiss all ideas of danger from within or without, on account of 
that incongruous and perilous element in our population. 

Further ; by the annual withdrawal of fifty-two thousand persons of 
color, there would be annual space created for an equal number of the 
white race. The period, therefore, of the duplication of the whites, by the 
laws which govern population, would be accelerated. 

Such, Mr. Vice-president, is the project of the Society ; and such is the 
extension and use which may be made of the principle of colonization, 
in application to our slave population, by those States which are alone 
competent to undertake and execute it. All, or any one, of the States 
which tolerate slavery, may adopt and execute it, by co-operation or 
separate exertion. If I could be instrumental in eradicating this deepest 
stain upon the character of our country, and removing all cause of re- 
proach on account of it, by foreign nations ; if I could only be instru- 
mental in ridding of this foul blot that revered State that gave me birth, or 
that not less beloved State which kindly adopted me as her son ; I would 
not exchange the proud satisfaction which I should enjoy, for the honor of 
all the triumphs ever decreed to the most successful conqueror. 

Having, I hope, shown that the plan of the Society is not visionary, 
but rational and practicable ; that a colony does in fact exist, planted 
under its auspices ; that free people are willing and anxious to go ; and 
that the right of soil as well as of sovereignty, may be acquired in vast 
tracts of country in Africa, abundantly sufficient for all the purposes of the 
most ample colony, and at prices almost only nominal, the task which re- 

22 



338 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

mains to me of showing the beneficial consequences which would attend 
the execution of the scheme, is comparatively easy. 

Of the utility of a total separation of the two incongruous portions of 
our population, supposing it to be practicable, none have ever doubted. 
The mode of accomplishing that most desirable object, has alone divided 
public opinion. Colonization in Hayti, for a time, had its partisans. 
Without throwing any impediments in the way of executing that scheme, 
the American Colonization Society has steadily adhered to its own. The 
Haytien project has passed away. Colonization beyond the Stony Mount- 
ains has sometimes been proposed ; but it would be attended with an ex- 
pense and difficulties far surpassing the African project, while it would not 
unite the same animating motives. There is a moral fitness in the idea of 
returning to Africa her children, whose ancestors have been torn from her 
by the ruthless hand of fraud and violence. Transplanted in a foreign 
land, they will carry back to their soil the rich fruits of religion, civiliza- 
tion, law, and liberty. May it not be one of the great designs of the 
Ruler of the universe (whose ways are often inscrutable by short-sighted 
mortals) thus to transform an original crime into a signal blessing, to that 
most unfortunate portion of the globe. Of all classes of our population, the 
most vicious is that of the free colored. It is the inevitable result of their 
moral, political, and civil degradation. Contaminated themselves, they 
extend their vices to all around them, to the slaves and to the whites. If 
the principle of colonization should be confined to them ; if a colony can 
be firmly established and successfully continued in Africa which should 
draw off annually an amount of that portion of our population equal to 
its annual increase, much good will be done. If the principle be adopted 
and applied by the States, whose laws sanction the existence of slavery, to 
an extent equal to the annual increase of slaves, still greater good will be 
done. This good will be felt by the Africans who go, and by the Africans 
who remain, by the white population of our country, by Africa, and 
by America. It is a project which recommends itself to favor in all the 
aspects in which it can be contemplated. It will do good in every 
and any extent in which it may be executed. It is a circle of philan- 
thropy, every segment of which tells and testifies to the beneficence of 
the whole. 

Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with him credentials 
in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free institutions. Why is it 
that the degree of success of missionary exertions is so limited, and so dis- 
couraging to those whose piety and benevolence prompt them ? Is it not 
because the missionary is generally an alien and a stranger, perhaps of a 
different color, and from a different tribe ? There is a sort of instinctive 
feeling of jealousy and distrust toward foreigners which repels and rejects 
them in all countries ; and this feeling is in proportion to the degree of 
ignorance and barbarism which prevail. But the African colonists, whom 
we send to convert the heathen, are of the same color, the same family, 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 339 

the same physical constitution. When the purposes of the colony shall be 
fully understood, they will be received as long-lost brethren restored to the 
embraces of their friends and their kindred by the dispensations of a wise 
Providence. 

The Society is rej:>roached for agitating this question. It should be rec- 
ollected that the existence of free people of color is not limited to the 
States only which tolerate slavery. The evil extends itself to all the 
States, and some of those which do not allow of slavery (their cities 
especially), experience the evil in an extent even greater than it exists in 
slave States. A common evil confers a right to consider and apply a com- 
mon remedy. Nor is it a valid objection that this remedy is partial in its 
operation or distant in its efficacy. A patient, writhing under the tor- 
tures of excruciating disease, asks of his physician to cure him if he can, 
and, if he can not, to mitigate his sufferings. But the remedy proposed, 
if generally adopted and perseveringly applied, for a sufficient length of 
time, should it not entirely eradicate the disease, will enable the body poli- 
tic to bear it without danger and without suffering:. 

We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation of this ques- 
tion. The Society goes into no household to disturb its domestic tranquil- 
lity ; it addresses itself to no slaves to weaken their obligation of obedience. 
It seeks to affect no man's property. It neither has the power nor the 
will to affect the property of any one contrary to his consent. The execu- 
tion of its scheme would auo-ment instead of diminishing the value of the 
property left behind. The Society, composed of free men, concerns itself 
only with the free. Collateral consequences we are not respionsible for. 
It is not this Society which has produced the great moral revolution which 
the age exhibits. What loould they, who thus reproach us, have done ? If 
they would repress all tendencies toward liberty and ultimate emancipation, 
they must do more than put doion the benevolent efforts of this Society. 
They must go back to the era of our liberty and independence, and muzzle 
the cannon which thunder its annual joyous return. They must revive 
the slave-trade, with all its train of atrocities. They must suppress the 
workings of British philanthropy, seeking to meliorate the condition of 
the unfortunate West Indian slaves. They must arrest the career of 
South American deliverance from thralldom. They must blow out the 
moral lights around us, and extinguish that greatest torch of all which 
America presents to a benighted world, pointing the way to their rights, 
their liberties, and their happiness. And when they have achieved all these 
vurposes, their work will be yet incomplete. They must penetrate the 
human soul, and eradicate the light of reason and the love of liberty. 
Then, and not till then, when universal darkness and despair prevail, can 
you perpetuate slavery, and repress all sympathies, and all humane and 
benevolent efforts among freemen, in behalf of the unhappy portion of our 
race doomed to bondage. 

Our friends, who are cursed with this greatest of human evils, deserve 



340 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the kindest attention and consideration. Their property and their safety 
are both involved. But the liberal and candid among them will not, can 
not, expect that every project to deliver our country from it is to be crush- 
ed because of a possible and ideal danger. Animated by the encourage- 
ment of the past, let us proceed under the cheering prospects which lie 
before us. Let us continue to appeal to the pious, the liberal, and the wise. 
Let us bear in mind the condition of our forefathers, when, collected on 
the beach in England, they embarked, amid the scoffings and the false 
predictions of the assembled multitude, for this distant land ; and here, in 
spite of all the perils of forest and ocean, which they encountered, success- 
fully laid the foundation of this glorious republic. Undismayed by the 
prophecies of the presumptuous, let us supplicate the aid of the American 
representatives of the people, and redoubling our labors, and invoking the 
blessings of an all-wise Providence, I boldly and confidently anticipate 
success. I hope the resolution which I offer will be unanimously 
adopted. 



BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. 

LEXINGTON, JULY 12, 1827. 

[The following is one of the most spirited speeches which Mr. 
Clay ever made, and he was justly provoked to it. If any one 
would understand the wickedness of General Jackson, in his 
attempts to injure Mr. Clay, and his determination to make his 
way to the presidency at the expense of truth and fairness, he 
must read this document ; and if he can find any satisfaction 
in seeing such iniquity exposed in the most fervid style of 
eloquence, and by the closest reasoning, he will find it here. In 
this great and complicated conspiracy, there was always the most 
studied avoidance of a fair hearing. The great object was to 
keep it before the public in such forms as to injure Mr. Clay, 
and help General Jackson to the presidency. When the charge 
was first brought by Kremer, a member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives from Pennsylvania, Mr. Clay instantly demanded an 
investigation by a special committee of that body. But inves- 
tigation and the truth were not the things wanted, and it was 
therefore evaded by artifice. Agitation, by false statements cir- 
culated among the people, was the grand device ; and after 
keeping these false statements afloat for two years, General 
Jackson comes out, over his own name, with a hypothetical 
charge, indeed, and yet such as would seem to be direct and ex- 
plicit, and which would be received as such. It was left to Mr. 
Clay, in the following speech, to expose its atrocious character. 
But the charge, like every lie, would travel over the Continent, 
while Truth was putting its boots on. General Jackson's letter 
would be universally read, and regarded by most people as 
plausible, while Mr. Clay's exposure of its falsehood would have 
a comparatively limited circulation. The exceedingly wicked 
character and purpose of the letter can only be appreciated by a 
perusal of the following discourse. It was called forth by a 
toast, at a dinner given to Mr. Clay at Lexington, as follows : 



342 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

" Our distinguished guest, Henry Clay : the furnace of persecution may be 
heated seven times hotter, and seventy times more he will come out unscathed 
by the fire of malignity, brighter to all and dearer to his friends; while his ene- 
mies shall sink with the dross of their own vile materials."] 

Mr. President, Friends, and Fellow-citizens — I beg permission to 
offer my hearty thanks, and to make my respectful acknowledgments, for 
the affectionate reception which has been given me during my present visit 
to my old congressional district, and for this hospitable and honorable testi- 
mony of your esteem and confidence. And I thank you especially for the 
friendly sentiments and feelings expressed in the toast which you have just 
done me the honor to drink. I always had the happiness of knowing that 
I enjoyed, in a high degree, the attachment of that portion of my fellow- 
citizens whom I formerly represented ; but I should never have been sens- 
ible of the strength and ardor of their affection, except for the extraordi- 
nary character of the times. For nearly two years and a half I have been 
assailed with a rancor and bitterness which have few examples. I have 
found myself the particular object of concerted and concentrated abuse* 
and others, thrusting themselves between you and me, have dared to ar- 
raign me for treachery to your interests. But my former constituents, un- 
affected by the calumnies which have been so perseveiingly circulated to my 
prejudice, have stood by me with a generous confidence and a noble mag- 
nanimity. The measure of their regard and confidence has risen with 
and even surpassed, that of the malevolence, great as it is, of my personal 
and political foes. I thank you, gentlemen, who are a large portion of my 
late constituents. I thank you, and every one of them, with all my heart, 
for the manly support which I have uniformly received. It has cheered, 
and consoled me, amid all my severe trials ; and may I not add, that it is 
honorable to the generous hearts and enlightened heads who have resolved 
to protect the character of an old friend and faithful servant ? 

The numerous manifestations of your confidence and attachment will 
be among the latest and most treasured recollections of my life. They 
impose upon me obligations which can never be weakened or canceled. 
One of these obligations is, that I should embrace every fair opportunity 
to vindicate that character which you have so generously sustained, and to 
evince to you and to the world, that you have not yielded to the impulses 
of a blind and enthusiastic sentiment. I feel that I am, on all fit occasions, 
especially bound to vindicate myself to my former constituents. It was as 
their representative, it was in fulfillment of a high trust which they con- 
fided to me, that I have been accused of violating the most sacred of du- 
ties — of treating their wishes with contempt, and their interests with 
treachery. Nor is this obligation, in my conception of its import, at all 
weakened by the dissolution of the relations which heretofore existed be- 
tween us. I would instantly resign the place I hold in the councils of the 
nation, and directly appeal to the suffrages of my late constituents, as a 



BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. 343 

candidate for re-election, if I did not know that my foes are of that class 
whom one rising from the dead can not convince, whom nothing can 
silence, and who wage a war of extermination. On the issue of such an 
appeal they would redouble their abuse of you and of me, for their hatred 
is common to us both. 

They have compelled me so often to be the theme of my addresses to 
the people, that I should have willingly abstained, on this festive occasion, 
from any allusion to this subject, but for a new and imposing form which 
the calumny against me has recently assumed. I am again put on my de- 
fense, not of any new charge, nor by any new adversary ; but of the old 
charges, clad in a new dress, and exhibited by an open and undisguised 
enemy. The fictitious names have been stricken from the foot of the in- 
dictment, and that of a known and substantial prosecutor has been volun- 
tarily offered. Undaunted by the formidable name of that prosecutor, 1 
will avail myself, with your indulgence, of this fit opportunity of free and 
unreserved intercourse with you, as a large number of my late constituents, 
to make some observations on the past and preseut state of the question. 
When evidence shall be produced, as I have now a clear right to demand, 
in support of the accusation, it will be the proper time for me to take such 
notice of it as its nature shall require. 

In February, 1825, it was my duty, as the representative of this district, 
to vote for some one of the three candidates for the presidency, who were 
returned to the House of Representatives. It has been established, and 
can be further proved, that, before I left this State the preceding fall, I com- 
municated to several gentlemen of the highest respectability my fixed de- 
termination not to vote for General Jackson. The friends of Mr. Crawford 
asserted to the last that the condition of his health was such as to enable 
him to administer the duties of the office. I thought otherwise, after I 
reached Washington city, and visited him to satisfy myself; and thouo-ht 
that physical impediment, if there were no other objections, ought to pre- 
vent his election. Although the delegations from four States voted for 
him, and his pretensions were zealously pressed to the veiy last moment, it 
has been of late asserted, and I believe by some of the very persons who 
then warmly espoused his cause, that his incompetency was so palpable as 
clearly to limit the choice to two of the three returned candidates. In my 
view of my duty, there was no alternative but that which I embraced. 
That I had some objections to Mr. Adams, I am ready freely to admit ; but 
these did not weigh a feather in comparison with the greater and insur- 
mountable objections, long and deliberately entertained against his com- 
petitor. I take this occasion, with great satisfaction, to state, that my 
objections to Mr. Adams arose chiefly from apprehensions which have not 
been realized. I have found him at the head of the government able, en- 
lightened, patient of investigation, and ever ready to receive with respect, 
and, when approved by his judgment, to act upon, the counsels of his official 
advisers. I add, with unmixed pleasure, that, from the commencement of 



344 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the government, with the exception of Mr. Jefferson's administration, no 
chief magistrate has fouud the members of his cabinet so united on all 
public measures, and so cordial and friendly in all their intercourse, private 
and official, as these are of the present president. 

Had I voted for General Jackson, in opposition to the well-knowu opin- 
ions which I entertained of him, one tenth part of the ingenuity and zeal 
which have been employed to excite prejudices against me, would have 
held me up to universal contempt ; and what would have been worse, I 
should have felt that I really deserved it. 

Before the election, an attempt was made by an abusive letter, published 
in the Columbian Observer, at Philadelphia, a paper which, as has since 
transpired, was sustained by Mr. Senator Eaton, the colleague, the friend, 
and the biographer of General Jackson, to assail my motives, and to deter 
me in the exercise of my duty. This letter being avowed by Mr. George 
Kremer, I instantly demanded from the House of Representatives an invest- 
igation. A committee was accordingly, on the 5th day of February, 1825, 
appointed in the rare mode of balloting by the House, instead of by se- 
lection of the Speaker. It was composed of some of the leading members 
of that body, not one of whom was my political friend in the preceding 
presidential canvass. Although Mr. Kremer, in addressing the House, had 
declared his willingness to bring forward his proofs, and his readiness to 
abide the issue of the inquiry, his fears, or other counsels than his own, 
prevailed upon him to take refuge in a miserable subterfuge. Of all possi- 
ble periods, that was the most fitting to substantiate the charge, if it were 
true. Every circumstance was then fresh ; the witnesses all living and 
present ; the election not yet complete ; and therefore the imputed corrupt 
bargain not fulfilled. All these powerful considerations had no weight 
with the conspirators and their accessories, and they meanly shrunk from 
even an attempt to prove their charge, for the best of all possible reasons — 
because, being false and fabricated, they could adduce no proof which was 
not false and fabricated. 

During two years and a half, which have now intervened, a portion of 
the press devoted to the cause of General Jackson has been teeming with 
the vilest calumnies against me, and the charge, under every chameleon 
form, has been a thousand times repeated. Up to this time I have in vain 
invited investigation, and demanded evidence. None, not a particle, has 
been adduced. 

The extraordinary ground has been taken, that the accusers were not 
bound to establish by proof the guilt of their designated victim. In a 
civilized, Christian, and free community, the monstrous principle has been 
assumed, that accusation and conviction are synonymous; and that the 
persons who deliberately bring forward an atrocious charge are exempted 
from all obligations to substantiate it! And the pretext is, that the crime, 
being of a political nature, is shrouded in darkness, and incapable of being 
substantiated. But is there any real difference, in this respect, between 



BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. 345 

political and other offenses ? Do not all the perpetrators of crime en- 
deavor to conceal their guilt and to elude detection ? If the accuser of a 
political offense is absolved from the duty of supporting Ids accusation, 
every other accuser of offense stands equally absolved. Such a principle, 
practically carried into society, would subvert all harmony, peace, and 
tranquillity. None — no age, nor sex, nor profession, nor calling — would 
be safe against its baleful and overwhelming influence. It would amount 
to a universal license to universal calumny. 

No one has ever contended that the proof should be exclusively that of 
eye-witnesses, testifying from their senses positively and directly to the 
fact. Political, like other offenses, may be established by circumstantial 
as well as positive evidence. But I do contend, that some evidence, be it 
what it may, ought to be exhibited. If there be none, how do the accus- 
ers know that an offense has been perpetrated ? If they do know it, let 
us liave the fact on which their conviction is based. I will not even assert, 
that, in public affairs, a citizen has not a right freely to express bis opinions 
of public men, and to speculate upon the motives of their conduct. But 
if he chooses to promulgate opinions, let them be given as opinions. The 
public will correctly judge of their value and their grounds. No one has 
a right to put forth a positive assertion, that a political offense has been 
committed, unless he stands prepared to sustaiu, by satisfactory pi'oof of 
some kind, its actual existence. 

If he who exhibits a charge of political crime is, from its very nature, 
disabled to establish it, how much more difficult is the condition of the 
accused ? How can he exhibit negative proof of his innocence, if no af- 
firmative proof of his guilt is or can be adduced ? 

It must have been a conviction that the justice of the public required 
a definite charge, by a responsible accuser, that has at last extorted from 
General Jackson his letter of the 6th of June, lately published. I approach 
that letter with great reluctance, not on my own account, for on that I do 
most heartily and sincerely rejoice that it has made its appearance. But 
it is reluctance, excited by the feelings of respect which I would anxiously 
have cultivated toward its author. He has, however, by that letter, created 
such relations between us, that, in any language which I may employ, in 
examining its contents, I feel myself bound by no other obligations than 
those which belong to truth, to public decorum, and to myself. 

The first consideration which must, on the perusal of the letter, force 
itself upon every reflecting mind, is that which arises out of the delicate 
posture in which General Jackson stands before the American public. He 
is a candidate for the presidency, avowed and proclaimed. He has no 
competitor at present, and there is no probability of his having any but 
one. The charges which he has allowed himself to be the organ of com- 
municating to the very public who is to decide the question of the pres- 
idency, though directly aimed at me, necessarily implicate his only com- 
petitor. Mr. Adams and myself are both guilty, or we are both innocent, 



346 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of the imputed arrangement between us. His innocence is absolutely ir- 
reconcilable with my guilt. If General Jackson, therefore, can establish 
my guilt, and, by inference, or by insinuation, that of his sole rival, be will 
have removed a great obstacle to the consummation of tbe object of bis 
ambition. And if he can, at tbe same time, make out his own purity of 
conduct, and impress tbe American people with the belief, that his purity 
and integrity alone prevented his success before the House of Representa- 
tives, his claims will become absolutely irresistible. Were there ever 
more powerful motives to propagate, was there ever greater interest, at all 
hazards, to prove the truth of charges ? 

I state the case, I hope, fairly ; I mean to state it fairly and fearlessly. If 
the position be one which exposes General Jackson to unfavorable suspicious, 
it must be borne in mind that he has voluntarily taken it, and he must 
abide the consequences. I am acting on the defensive, and it is he who 
assails me, and who has called forth, by the eternal laws of self-protection, 
the right to use all legitimate means of self-defense. 

General Jackson has shown in his letter, that he is not exempt from the 
influence of that bias toward one's own interest, which is unfortunately the 
too common lot of human nature. It is his interest to make out that he 
is a person of spotless innocence, and of unsullied integrity; and to estab- 
lish, by direct charge, or by necessary inference, the want of those quali- 
ties in his rival. Accordingly, we find, throughout the letter, a labored 
attempt to set forth his own immaculate purity in striking contrast with 
the corruption which is attributed to others. We would imagine from his 
letter, that ho very seldom touches a newspaper. The Telegraph is mailed 
regularly for him at Washington, but it arrives at the Hermitage very ir- 
regularly. He would have the public to infer, that the postmaster at Nash- 
ville, whose appointment happened not to be upon bis recommendation, 
obstructed his reception of it. In consequence of his not receiving the 
Telegraph, he had not on the 6th of June, 1827, seen Carter Beverley's 
famous Fayetteville letter, dated the 8th of the preceding March, pub- 
lished in numerous gazettes, and published, I have very little doubt, although 
I have not the means of ascertaining the fact, in the Gazettes of Nashville. 
I will not say, contrary to General Jackson's assertion, that be had never 
read that letter, when he wrote that of the 6th of June, but I must think 
that it is very strange that he should not have seen it ; and I doubt wheth- 
er there is another man of any political eminence in the United States who 
has not read it. There is a remarkable coincidence between General Jack- 
son and certain editors who espouse bis interest, in relation to Mr. Bever- 
ley's letter. They very early took the grouud, in respect to it, that I ought, 
under my own signature, to come out and deny the statements. And Gen- 
eral Jackson now says, in his letter of the 6th of June, that be "always 
intended, should Mi 1 . Clay come out over his own signature, and deny hav- 
ing any knowledge of the communication made by his friends to my friends 



BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. 347 

and to me, that I would give hirn the name of the gentleman through 
whom that communication came." 

The distinguished member of Congress who bore the alleged overture, 
according to General Jackson, presented himself with diplomatic circum- 
spection, lest he should wound the very great sensibility of the general. 
He avers that the communication was intended with the most friendly mo- 
tives ; " that he came as a friend," and that he hoped, however it might be 
received, there would be no alteration in the friendly feelings between them. 
The general graciously condescends to receive the communication, and, in 
consideration of the high standing of the distinguished member, and of 
his having always been a professed friend, he is promised impunity, and 
assured that there shall be no change of amicable ties. After all these 
necessary preliminaries are arranged between the high negotiating powers, 
the envoy proceeds : " He had been informed by the friends of Mr. Clay, 
that the friends of Mr. Adams had made overtures to them, saying if Mr. 
Clay and his friends w r ould unite in aid of the election of Mr. Adams, Mr. 
Clay should be Secretary of State ; that the friends of Mr. Adams were 
urging, as a reason to induce the friends of Mr. Clay to accede to their 
proposition, that if I was elected president, Mr. Adams would be continued 
Secretary of State, (innuendo, there would be no room for Kentucky)." [Is 
this General Jackson's innuendo, or that of the distinguished member of 
Congress ?] " That the friends of Mr. Clay stated the West does not want 
to separate from the West and if I would say, or permit any of my confi- 
dential friends to say that, in case I was elected president, Mr. Adams 
should not be continued Secretary of State, by a complete union of Mr. 
Clay and his friends, they would put an end to the presidential contest in 
one hour ; and he was of opinion it was right to fight such intriguers with 
their own weapons." To which the general states himself to have replied 
in substance, " that in politics, as in every thing else, my guide was prin- 
ciple, and contrary to the expressed and unbiased will of the people or their 
constituted agents, I never would step into the presidential chair ; and re- 
quested him to say to Mr. Clay and his friends (for I did suppose he had 
come from Mr. Clay, although he used the terms Mr. Clay's friends), that 
before I would reach the presidential chair by such means of bargain and 
corruption, I would see the earth open and swallow both Mr. Clay and his 
friends and myself with them." Now all these professions are very fine, 
and display admirable purity. But its sublimity would be somewhat more 
impressive, if some person other than General Jackson had proclaimed it. 
He would go into the presidential chair, but never, no ! never, contrary to 
" the expressed and unbiased will of the people, or their constituted agents :" 
two modes of arriving at it the more reasonable, as there happens to be 
no other constituted way. He would see " the earth open and swallow 
both Mr. Clay and his friends aud myself," before he would reach the pres- 
idential chair by "such means of bargain and corruption." I hope Gen- 
eral Jackson did not intend that the whole human race should be also 



348 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

swallowed up, on the contingency be has stated, or that they were to 
guaranty that he has an absolute repugnance to the employment of any ex- 
ceptionable means to secure his elevation to the presidency. If he had 
rendered the distinguished member of Congress a little more distinguished, 
by instantly ordering him from his presence, and by forthwith denouncing 
him and the infamous propositions which he bore to the American public, 
we should be a little better prepared to admit the claims to untarnished 
integrity, which the general so modestly puts forward. But, according to 
his own account, a corrupt and scandalous proposal is made to him ; the 
person who conveyed it, advises him to accept it, and yet that person still 
retains the friendship of General Jackson, who is so tender of his character 
that his name is carefully concealed and reserved to be hereafter brought 
forward as a witness ! A man, who, if he be a member of the House of 
Representatives, is doubly infamous — infamous for the advice which he 
gave, and infamous for his willingness to connive at the corruption of the 
body of which he is a sworn member — is the credible witness by whom 
General Jackson stands ready to establish the corruption of men whose 
characters are never questioned. 

Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so 
highly prized as that of character. General Jackson can not be insens- 
ible to its value, for he appears to be the most anxious to set forth the 
loftiness and purity of his own. How has he treated mine ? During the 
dispensation of the hospitalities of the Hermitage, in the midst of a mixed 
company of individuals from various States, he permits himself to make 
certain statements respecting my friends and me, which, if true, would for- 
ever dishonor and degrade us. The words are hardly passed from his 
mouth, before they are committed to paper by one of his guests, and trans- 
mitted in the form of a letter to another State, when they are published in 
a newspaper, and thence circulated throughout the Union. And now he 
pretends that these statements were made " without any calculation that 
they were to be thrown into the public journals." Does he reprove the 
indiscretion of his guest who had violated the sanctity of a conversation at 
the hospitable board ? Far from it. The public is incredulous. It can not 
be, General Jackson would be so wanting in delicacy and decorum. The 
guest appeals to him for the confirmation of the published statements ; and 
the General promptly addresses a letter to him, in which " he unequivocally 
confirms (says Mr. Carter Beverely), all I have said regarding the overture 
made to him pending the last presidential election before Congress ; and he 
asserts a great deal more than lie ever told me." I should be glad to know 
it' all the versions of the tale have now made their appearance, and whether 
General Jackson will allege, that he did not " calculate " upon the publica- 
tion of his letter of the 6th of June. 

The general states that the unknown envoy used the terms, <% Mr Clay's 
friends," to the exclusion, therefore, of myself, but he nevertheless inferred 
that he had come from me. Now, why did he draw this inference contra- 



BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. 349 

ry to the import of the statement which he received ? Does not this dis- 
position to deduce conclusions unfavorable to me, manifest the spirit which 
actuates him ? And does not General Jackson exhibit throughout his let- 
ter a desire to give a coloring to the statements of his friend, the distin- 
guished member of Congress, higher than they would justify ? No one 
should ever resort to implication but from necessity. Why did he not 
ascertain from the envoy if he had come from me ? Was any thing more 
natiral than that General Jackson should ascertain the persons who had 
deputed the envoy ? If his slacked sensibility and indignant virtue and 
patriotism would not allow him to inquire into particulars, ought he to 
have hazarded the assertion, that I was privy to the proposal, without as- 
suring himself of the fact ; could he not, after rejecting the proposal, con- 
tinuing, as he did, on friendly terms with the organ of it, have satisfied 
himself if I were conusant of it ? If he had not time then, might he not 
have ascertained the fact from his friend or from me, during the interven- 
ing two and a half years ? The compunctions of his own conscience appear 
for a moment to have visited him toward the conclusion of his letter, for 
he there does say, "that in the supposition stated, I may have done injust- 
ice to Mr. Clay ; if so, the gentleman informing me can explain." No 
good or honorable man will do another voluntarily any injustice. It was 
not necessarv that General Jackson should have done me any. And he 
can not acquit himself of the rashness and iniquity of his conduct toward 
me, by referring at this late day to a person whose name is withheld from 
the public. This compendious mode of administering justice, by first hang- 
ing and then trying a man, however justifiable it may be, according to the 
precepts of the Jackson code, is sanctioned by no respectable system of 
jurisprudence. 

It is stated in the letter of the 6th of June, that the overture was made 
early in January ; and that the second day after the communication, it 
" was announced in the newspapers, that Mr. Clay had come out openly 
and avowedly in favor of Mr. Adams." The object of this statement is ob- 
vious. It is to insinuate that the proposal which was rejected with disdain 
by General Jackson, was accepted with promptitude by Mr. Adams. This 
renders the fact as to the time of the alleged annunciation very important. 
It is to be regretted that General Jackson had not been a little more pre- 
cise. It was early in January that the overture was made, and the second 
day after, the annunciation of my inteution took place. Now, I will not 
assert that there may not have been some speculations in the newspapers 
about that time (although I do not believe there were any speculations so 
early), as to the probable vote I should give ; but I should be glad to see 
any newspaper which the second day after early in January, asserted in its 
columns, that I had come out "openly and avowedly in favor of Mr. 
Adams." I challenge the production of such a paper. I do not believe 
my iutention so to vote for Mr. Adams was announced in the newspapers 
openly and avowedly during the whole month of January, or at any rate 



350 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

until late in that month. The only avowal of my intention to vote for 
him, which was publicly made in the newspapers, prior to the election, is 
contained in my letter to Judge Brooke, which is dated the 28th of Janu- 
ary. It was first published in the Enquirer at Richmond, some time in 
the ensuing- month. I go further : I do not believe any newspaper at 
Washington can be produced, announcing, before the latter part of January, 
the fact, whether upon my avowal or not, of my intention to vote for Mr. 
Adams. General Jackson's memory must deceive him. He must have 
confounded events and circumstances. His friend, Mr. George Kreiner, in 
his letter to the Columbian Observer bearing date the 25th of January, 
has, according to my recollection of the public prints, a claim to the merit 
of being the first, or among the first, to announce to the public my intend- 
ed vote. That letter was first published at Philadelphia, and returned in 
the Columbian Observer to Washington city, on the 31st of January. 
How long before its date that letter was written to Mr. Kremer, does not 
appear. Whether there be any connection made by the distinguished 
member of Congress, and that letter, perhaps General Jackson can ex- 
plain. 

At the end of more than two years, after a corrupt overture has been 
made to General Jackson, he now, for the first time, openly proclaims it. 
It is true, as I have ascertained since the publication of Mr. Beverley's 
Fayetteville letter, the general has been for a long time secretly circulating 
the charge. Immediately on the appearance at Washington of that letter 
in the public prints, the editor of the Telegraph asserted, in his paper, that 
General Jackson had communicated the overture to him about the period 
of the election, not as he now states, but according to Mr. Beverley's ver- 
sion of the tale. Since I left Washington on the 10th of last month, I 
have understood that General Jackson has made a similar communication 
to several other persons at different and distant points. Why has the 
overture been thus clandestinely circulated ? Was it that through the 
medium of the Telegraph, the leading paper supporting the interest of 
Geueral Jackson, and through his other depositories, the belief of the 
charge should be duly and gradually infused into the public mind, and 
thus contribute to the support of his cause ? The zeal and industry with 
which it has been propagated, the daily colunms of certain newspapers can 
testify. Finding the public still unconvinced, has the general found it to 
be necessary to come out in proper person, through the thin vail of Mr. 
Carter Beverley's agency ? 

When the alleged overture was made, the election remained undecided. 
Why did not General Jackson then hold up to universal scorn and indig- 
nation the infamous bearer of the proposal, and those who dared to insult 
his honor, and tamper with his integrity ? If he had at that time de- 
nounced all the infamous parties concerned, demanded an inquiry in the 
House of Representatives, and established by satisfactory proof the truth 
of his accusation, there might and probably would have been a different 



BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. 351 

result to the election. Why, Avhen at my instance, a committee was on 
the 5th day of February, 1825 (only four days before the election), ap- 
pointed to investigate the charges of Mr. Kremer, did not General Jackson 
present hiinself and establish their truth? Why, on the 7th of that 
month, two days before the election, when the committee reported that 
Mr. Kremer declined to come forward, and that " if they knew of any 
reason for such investigation, they would have asked to be clothed with 
the proper power, but not having themselves any such knowledge, they 
have felt it to be their duty only to lay before the House the communica- 
tion which they have received ;" why did not General Jackson authorize a 
motion to recommit the report, and manfully come forward with all his 
information ? The Congress of the nation is in session. An important elec- 
tion has devolved on it. All eyes are turned toward Washington. The 
result is awaited with intense anxiety and breathless expectation. A corrupt 
proposition affecting the election is made to one of the candidates. He re- 
ceives it, Ts advised to accept it, deliberates, decides upon it. A committee 
is in session to investigate the very charge. The candidate, notwithstand- 
ing, remains profoundly silent, and, after the lapse of more than two years, 
when the period of another election is rapidly approaching, in which he is 
the only competitor for the office, for the first time, announces it to the 
American republic ! They must have more than an ordinary share of 
creulity who do not believe that General Jackson labors under some ex- 
traordinary delusion. 

It is possible that he may urge by way of excuse, for what must be 
deemed his culpable concealment of meditated corruption, that he did not 
like to volunteer as a witness before the committee, or to transmit to it the 
name of his friend, the distinguished member of the House of Representa- 
tives, although it is not very easy to discern any just reason for his volun- 
teering now, which would not have applied with more force at that time. 
But what apology can be made for his failure to discharge his sacred duty 
as an American senator ? More than two months after the alleged overture, 
my nomination to the office which I now hold, was made to the Senate 
of the United States, of which General Jackson was then a sworn member. 
On that nomination he had to deliberate and to act in the most solemn 
manner. If I were privy to a corrupt proposal to General Jackson, touch- 
ing the recent election ; if I had entered into a corrupt bargain with Mr. 
Adams to secure his elevation, I was unworthy of the office to which I was 
nominated ; and it was the duty of General Jackson, if he really possessed 
the information which he now puts forward, to have moved the Senate to 
appoint a committee of inquiry, and by establishing my guilt, to have 
preserved the national councils from an abominable contamination. As 
the conspiracy of George Kremer <fe Co. had a short time before meanly 
shrunk from appearing before the committee of the House of Representa- 
tives, to make good their charges, I requested a senator of the United 
States, when my nomination should be taken up, to ask of the Senate the 



352 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

appointment of a committee of inquiry, unless it should appear to him to be 
altogether unnecessary. One of our senators was compelled, by the urg- 
ency of his private business, to leave Washington before my nomination 
was disposed of; and as I had but little confidence in the fidelity and pro- 
fessed friendship of the other, I was constrained to present my application 
to a senator from another State. I was afterward informed that when it 
was acted upon, General Jackson, and every other senator present, was 
silent as to the imputation now made ; no one presuming to question my 
honor or integrity. How can General Jackson justify to his conscience 
or to his country this palpable breach of his public duty ? It is in vain to 
say that he gave a silent negative vote. He was in possession of informa- 
tion which, if true, must have occasioned the rejection of my nomination. 
It does not appear that any other senator possessed the same information. 
Investigation was alike due to the purity of the national councils, to me, 
and, as an act of strict justice, to all the other parties implicated. It is 
impossible for him to escape from the dilemma that he has been faithless 
as a senator of the United States, or has lent himself to the circulation of 
an atrocious calumny. 

After the election, General Jackson was among the first who eagerly 
pressed his congratulations upon his successful rival. If Mr. Adams had 
been guilty of the employment of impure means to effect his election, 
General Jackson ought to have disdained to sully his own hands by touch- 
ing those of his corrupt competitor. 

On the 10th of February, 1825, the very next day after the election, 
General Jackson was invited to a public dinner at Washington, by some 
of his friends. He expressed to them his wish that he might be excused 
from accepting the invitation, because, alluding to the recent election, he 
said, " any evidence of kindness and regard, such as you propose, might, 
by many, be viewed as conveying with it exception, murmuring, and feel- 
ings of complaint, which I sincerely hope belong to none of my friends." 
More than one month after the corrupt proposal is pretended to have been 
received, and after, according to the insinuation of General Jackson, a cor- 
rupt arrangement had been made between Mr. Adams and me ; after the 
actual termination of an election, the issue of which was brought about, 
according to General Jackson, by the basest means, he was unwilling to 
accept the honors of a public dinner, lest it should imply even an exception 
against the result of the election. 

General Jackson professes in his letter of the 6th of June — I quote 
again his words — " to have always intended, should Mr. Clay come out 
over his own signature, and deny having had any knowledge of the com- 
munication made by his friends to my friends, and to me, that I would 
give him the name of the gentleman through whom that communication 
came." He pretends never to have seen the Fayetteville letter ; and yet 
the pretext of a denial under my signature is precisely that which had 
been urged by the principal editors who sustain his cause. If this be an 



BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. 353 

unconcerted, it is nevertheless a most wonderful coincidence. The general 
never communicated to me his professed intention, but left me in entire 
ignorance of his generous purpose ; like the overture itself, it was pro- 
foundly concealed from me. There was an authorized denial from me, 
which went to the circle of the public prints, immediately after the arrival 
at Washington of the Fayetteville letter. In that denial my words are 
given. They were contained in a letter dated at Washington city on the 
18th day of April last, and are correctly stated to have been "that the 
statemeut that his (my) friends had made such a proposition as the latter 
describes to tlie friends of General Jackson was, as far as he knew or be- 
lieved, utterly destitute of foundation ; that he was unwilling to believe 
that General Jackson had made any such statement ; but that no matter 
with whom it had originated, he was fully persuaded it was a gross fabri- 
cation of the same calumnious character with the Kremer story, put forth 
for the double purpose of injuring his public character, and propping the 
cause of General Jackson ; and then for himself and his friends he defied 
the substantiation of the charge before any fair tribunal whatever." Such 
were my own words, transmitted in the form of a letter from a friend to a 
known person. Whereas the charge which they repelled was contained in 
a letter written by a person then unknown to some person also unknown. 
Did I not deny the charge under my own signature, in my card of the 
31st of January, 1825, published in the National Intelligencer? Was not 
there a substantial denial of it in my letter to Judge Brooke, dated the 
28th of the same month 2 In my circular to my constituents 2 In my 
Lewisburg speech 2 And may I not add, in the whole tenor of my public 
life and conduct 2 If General Jackson had offered to furnish me the name 
of a member of Congress, who was capable of advising his acceptance of 
a base and corrupt proposition, ought I to have resorted to his infamous 
and discredited witness 2 

It has been a thousand times asserted and repeated, that I violated in- 
structions which I ought to have obeyed. I deny the charge ; and I am 
happy to have this opportunity of denying it in the presence of my assem- 
bled constituents. The General Assembly requested the Kentucky delega- 
tion to vote in a particular way. A majority of that delegation, including 
myself, voted in opposition to that request. The Legislature did not intend 
to give an imperative instruction. The distinction between a request and 
an instruction was familiar to the Legislature, and their rolls attest that the 
former is always addressed to the members of the House of Representatives, 
and the latter only to the Senators of the United States. 

But I do not rely exclusively on this recognized distinction. I dispute 
at once the right of the Legislature to issue a mandatory instruction to the 
representatives of the people. Such a right has no foundation in the Con- 
stitution, in the reason or nature of things, nor in the usage of the Kentucky 
Legislature. Its exercise would be a manifest usurpation. The General 
Assembly has the incontrovertible right to express its opinions and to pro- 

23 



354 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

claim its wishes on any political subject whatever ; and to such an expres- 
sion great deference and respect are due ; but it is not obligatory. The 
people, when, in August, 1824, they elected members to the General As- 
sembly, did not invest them with any power to regulate or control the 
exercise of the discretion of the Kentucky delegation in the Congress of 
the United States. I put it to the candor of every elector present, if he 
intended to part with his own right, or anticipated the exertion of any 
such power, by the Legislature, when he gave his vote in August, 1824 ? 

The only instruction which I received from a legitimate source, emanated 
from a respectable portion of my immediate constituents ; and that directed 
me to exercise my own discretion, regardless of the will of the Legislature. 
You subsequently ratified my vote by unequivocal demonstrations, repeat- 
edly given, of your affectionate attachment and your unshaken confidence. 
You ratified it two years ago, by the election of my personal and political 
friend (Judge Clarke) to succeed me in the House of Representatives, who 
had himself subscribed the only legitimate instruction which I received. 
You ratify it by the presence and the approbation of this vast and respect- 
able assemblage. 

I rejoice again and again, that the contest has at last assumed its pres- 
ent practical form. Heretofore, malignant whispers and dark surmise 
have been clandestinely circulated, or openly or unblushingly uttered by 
irresponsible agents. They were borne upon the winds, and like them 
were invisible and intangible. No responsible man stood forward to sus- 
tain them, with his acknowledged authority. They have at last a local 
habitation and a name. General Jackson has now thrown off the mask, 
and comes confessedly forth from behind bis concealed batteries, publicly 
to accuse and convict me. We stand confronted before the American 
people. Pronouncing the charges, as I again do, destitute of all founda- 
tion, and gross aspersions, whether clandestinely or openly issued from the 
halls of the capitol, the saloons of the Hermitage, or by press, by pen, or 
by tongue, and safely resting on my conscious integrity, I demanded the 
witness, and await the event with fearless confidence. 

The issue is fairly joined. The imputed offense does not comprehend a 
single friend, but the collective body of my friends in Congress ; and it ac- 
cuses them of offering, and me with sanctioning, corrupt propositions, 
derogating from honor, and in violation of the most sacred duties. The 
charge has been made after two years' deliberation. General Jackson has 
voluntarily taken his position, and without provocation. In voting against 
him as President of the United States, I gave him no just cause of offense. 
I exercised no more than my indisputable privilege, as on a subsequent 
occasion, of which I have never complaiued, he exercised his in voting 
against me as Secretary of State. Had I voted for him, I must have gone 
counter to every fixed principle of my public life. I believed him incom- 
petent, and his election fraught with danger. At this early period of the 
republic, keeping steadily in view the dangers which had overturned every 



BAKGAIN AND COKKUPTION. 355 

other free state, I believed it to be essential to the lasting preservation of 
our liberties, that a man, devoid of civil talents, and offering no recom- 
mendation but one founded on military service, should not be selected to 
administer the government. I believe so yet ; and I shall consider the 
days of the commonwealth numbered, when an opposite principle is estab- 
lished. I believed, and still believe, that now, when our institutions are in 
comparative infancy, is the time to establish the great principle, that mil- 
itary qualification alone is not a sufficient title to the presidency. If we 
start right, we may run a long race of liberty, happiness, and glory. If 
we stumble in setting out, we shall fall as others have fallen before us, and 
fall without even a claim to the regrets or sympathies of mankind. 

I have never done General Jackson, knowingly, any injustice. I have 
taken pleasure, on every proper occasion, to bestow on him merited praise, 
for the glorious issue of the battle of New Orleans. No American citizen 
enjoyed higher satisfaction than I did with the event. I heard it for the 
first time on the boulevards of Paris ; and I eagerly perused the details 
of the actions, with the anxious hope that I should find that the gallant 
militia of my own State had avenged, on the banks of the Mississippi, the 
blood which they had so freely spilt on the disastrous field of Raisin. 
That hope was not then gratified ; and although I had the mortification to 
read in the official statement, that they ingloriously fled, I was nevertheless 
thankful for the success of the arms of my country, and felt grateful to 
him who had most contributed to the ever-memorable victory. This con- 
cession is not now made for the purpose of conciliating the favor or miti- 
gating the wrath of General Jackson. He has erected an impassable 
barrier between us, and I would scorn to accept any favor at his hands. I 
thank my God that He has endowed me with a soul incapable of appre- 
hensions from the anger of any being but himself. 

I have, as your representative, freely examined, and in my deliberate 
judgment, justly condemned the conduct of General Jackson in some 
of our Indian wars. I believed and yet believe him to have trampled 
upon the Constitution of his country, and to have violated the principles 
of humanity. Entertaining these opinions, I did not and could not vote for 
him. 

I owe you, my friends and fellow-citizens, many apologies for this long 
interruption of the festivities of the day. I hope that my desire to vindicate 
their honored object, and to satisfy you that he is not altogether unworthy 
of them, will bo deemed sufficient. 



DANGER OF THE MILITARY SPIRIT IN A 

REPUBLIC. 

BALTIMORE, MAT 13, 1828. 

[The last of four years was now in transitu, since Mr. Clay- 
had committed the mortal offense of using his vote and influence 
for the election to the presidency of John Quincy Adams, and 
since he had entered on the duties of Secretary of State. The 
whole of this time had been occupied by General Jackson and 
his party in endeavoring to convince the American people that 
the hero of New Orleans had been deprived of his just rights in 
the election of Mr. Adams, by a bargain between Mr, Clay and 
Mr. Adams. They would not consent to lose the benefit of this 
charge by accepting a challenge to prove it, as they knew they 
must fail in it. All they would say, was : Mr. Adams was made 
president, and Mr. Clay was made Secretary of State ; and the 
charge was, that they had bargained with each other for these 
places respectively. This charge was so managed that a major- 
ity of the people believed it, and waited only for the next presi- 
dential election to avenge the wrongs of their military chieftain. 
In such a contest, the military spirit took possession of the heart 
of the nation. It was in the midst of this campaign that the 
following speech was delivered, at a dinner with his friends at 
Baltimore, in reply to the following toasts : 

1. The President of the United States. 

2. A great statesman has said, " What is a public man worth, who will 
not suffer for his country?" We have seen a public man sacrifice much 
for his country, and rise resplendently triumphant over the calumnies of his 
enemies.] 

Mr. Clay then rose, and said, Although I have been required, by the 
advice of my physicians, to abstain from all social entertainments, with 
their consequent excitements, I can not leave Baltimore, without saying a 
few words, by way of public acknowledgment, for the cordial congratula- 
tions with which I have been received during my present visit. I am not 
bo vain, indeed, as to imagine that any personal considerations have 



DANGER OF THE MILITARY SPIRIT IN A REPUBLIC. 357 

prompted the enthusiastic demonstrations by which my approach to this 
city, and my short sojourn, have been so highly distinguished. Their 
honored object, has, it is true, some claims upon the justice, if not the 
sympathy, of a generous, intelligent, and high-minded people. Singled 
out for proscription and destruction, he has sustained all the fury of the 
most ferocious attacks. Calumnious charges, directed against the honor 
of his public character, dearer than life itself, sanctioned and republished 
by one who should have scorned to lend himself to such a vile purpose, 
have been echoed by a thousand profligate or deluded tongues and presses. 
Supported by the consciousness of having faithfully discharged his duty, 
and defended by the virtue and intelligence of an enlightened people, he 
has stood firm and erect amid all the bellowings of the political storm. 
What is a public man, what is any man worth, who is not prepared to 
sacrifice himself, if necessary, for the good of his country ? 

But, continued Mr. Clay, the demonstrations which I have here wit- 
nessed, have a higher and a nobler source, than homage to an individual : 
they originate from that cause with which I am an humble associate — the 
cause of the country — the cause of the Constitution — the cause of free 
institutions. They would otherwise be unworthy of freemen, and less 
gratifying to me. I am not, I hope, so uncharitable as to accuse all the 
opponents of that cause with designs unfriendly to human liberty. I 
know that they make, many of them sincerely, other professions. They 
talk, indeed, of republicanism, and some of them impudently claim to be 
the exclusive republican party ! Yes ! we find men who, but yesterday, 
were the foremost in other ranks, upon whose revolting ears the grating 
sound of republicanism ever fell, and upon whose lips the exotic word still 
awkwardly hangs, now exclaiming, or acquiescing in the cry, that they 
are the republican party ! I had thought if any one, more than all other 
principles, characterized the term republican party, it was their ardent 
devotion to liberty, to its safety, to all its guaranties. I had supposed, 
that the doctrines of that school taught us to guard against the danger of 
standing armies, to profit by the lessons which all history inculcates, and 
never to forget that liberty and the predominance of the military prin- 
ciple, were utterly incompatible. The republican party ! In this modern, 
new-fangled, and heterogeneous party, Cromwell and Caesar have recently 
found apologists. The judgment of centuries is reversed ; long-established 
maxims are overturned ; the Ethiopian is washed white ; and the only 
genuine lovers of liberty were the Philips, the Caesars, the Crom wells, 
the Mariuses, and the Syllas, of former ages. 

It is time for slumbering patriotism to awake, when such doctrines as 
these are put forth from the capitol, and from popular assemblies. It is 
time that the real republican party (I speak not of former divisions, spring- 
ing from causes no longer existing, and which are sought to be kept up 
by some men in particular places, only for sinister purposes) — that party, 
under whatever flag its members may have heretofore acted, that party 



358 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

which loves freedom, for freedom's sake — justly to estimate the impending 
perils, and to proceed with an energy, and union, called for by the existing 
crisis in the republic. Regardless of all imputations, and proud of the op- 
portunity of free and unrestrained intercourse with all my fellow-citizens, 
if it were physically possible, and compatible with my official duties, I 
would visit every State, go to every town and hamlet, address every man 
in the Union, and entreat them, by their love of country, by their love of 
liberty, for the sake of themselves and their posterity — in the name of 
their venerated ancestors, in the name of the human family, deeply inter- 
ested in the fulfillment of the trust committed to their hands — by all the 
past glory which we have won — by all that awaits us as a nation — if we 
are true and faithful in gratitude to Him who has hitherto so signally 
blessed us — to pause — solemnly pause — and contemplate the precipice 
which yawns before us ! If, indeed, we have incurred the divine displeas- 
ure, and it be necessary to chastise this people with the rod of vengeance, 
I would humbly prostrate myself before Him, and implore His mercy, to 
visit our favored land with war, with pestilence, with famine, with any 
scourge other than military rule, or a blind and heedless enthusiasm for 
mere military renown. 

Gentlemen, I wish I had strength to expatiate on this interesting subject ; 
but I am admonished by the state of my health, to desist. I pray you to 
accept my thanks for the sentiment with which you have honored me, and 
your permission to offer one which I hope will be approved by you : 

Genuine Republicans, of every faith, who, true to the cause of liberty, would 
guard it against all pernicious examples. 



MR. J, Q, ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. 

CINCINNATI, AUGUST 23, 1828. 

[The following speech is chiefly devoted to a vindication of 
the administration of Mr. J. Q. Adams, of which Mr. Clay was 
a member. Being on a journey from Ashland to Washington, 
and forced to take Cincinnati in his way, he could not avoid the 
attentions of the people, who thronged by thousands to see and 
hear him, as he passed through Cincinnati. It was now the eve 
of the presidential election, when Mr. Adams and General Jack- 
son were the two opposing candidates. Besides the great staple 
of Bargain and Corruption, in which the Jackson party traded 
bo furiously, Mr. Adams's administration and tariff policy were 
assailed — all of which, as will be seen, are noticed by Mr. Clay.] 

Mr. Chairman — Although it is riot entirely compatible with the pre- 
cautions which are enjoined by the delicate state of my health, to which 
you have so obligingly alluded, to present myself in this attitude, I can not 
refrain from making a public expression to you, and to my fellow-citizens 
here assembled, of my profound acknowledgments for the hearty welcome 
and the cordial, spontaneous, and enthusiastic manifestation of respect and 
attachment with whioh my present visit to your city has been attended. 
It has been frequently, but not less truly said, that the highest reward for 
public service, is the approbation of the public. The support of public 
opinion is the greatest incentive to the faithful and beneficial discharge of 
official duty. If, as you have truly suggested, it has been my misfortune 
for several years to have been abused and assailed without example, I have 
nevertheless had the satisfaction to have been cheered and sustained, in all 
parts of the Union, by some of the best and most virtuous men in it. And 
I seize with pleasure this occasion to say, that even among my political 
opponents, many of the most moderate and intelligent have done me the 
justice to discredit and discountenance the calumnies of which I have been 
the object. But nowhere have I found more constant, ardent, and effective 
friends, than in this city. I thank them most heartily for all their friendly 
sentiments. and exertions. 

Whatever may be the issue of the contest which at present unhappily di- 
vides and distracts our country, I trust that the beneficial system, to which you 



360 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

have referred, will survive the struggle, and continue to engage the affections, 
and to cheer and animate the industry of the people of the United States. 
It has indeed been recently attacked in another quarter of the Union, by 
some of our fellow-citizens, with a harshness and intemperance which must 
everywhere excite the patriot's regret. It has been denounced as if it were 
a new system, tha, sprung into existence but yesterday, or at least with 
the present administration, if not during the last session of Congress. But 
it owes its origin to a much earlier date. The present administration, 
though sincerely attached to it, and most anxious for its preservation, has 
not the merit of having first proposed or first established it. The manu- 
facturing system was quickened into existence by the commercial restric- 
tions which preceded the late war with Great Britain, and by that greatest 
of them all, the war itself. Our wants, no longer supplied from abroad, 
must have been supplied at home, or we must have been deprived of the 
necessaries and comforts of civilization, if we had not relapsed into a state 
of barbarism. The policy of Jefferson and Madison fostered, if it did not 
create, the manufactures of our country. The peace brought with it a 
glut of foreign fabrics, which would have prostrated our establishments, if 
government had been capable of unjustly witnessing such a spectacle* 
without interposing its protective power. Protection, therefore, was not 
merely called for by the substantial independence of our country, but it 
was a parental duty of government to those citizens who had been tempted 
by its restrictive policy to embark all their hopes and fortunes in the bus- 
iness of manufacturing. Twelve years ago Congress took up the subject* 
and after loug and mature deliberation, solemuly decided to extend that 
measure of protection which was alike demanded by sound policy and 
strict justice. Then the foundations were laid of the American system; 
and all that has been subsequently done, including the act of the last ses- 
sion of Congress, are but the consequences of the policy then deliberately 
adopted, having for their object the improvement and perfection of the 
great work then begun. It is not the least remarkable of the circum- 
stances of these strange times, that some who assisted in the commence- 
ment, who laid corner-stones of the edifice, are now ready to pull down 
and demolish it. 

It is not the fact of the existence of an opposition to the tariff that can 
occasion any inquietude ; nor that of large and respectable assemblies of 
the people, to express their disapprobation of the policy, and their firm 
resolution to consume only the produce of their own industry. These 
meetings are in the true spirit of our free institutions, and that resolution 
is in the true spirit of the American svstem itself. But what must excite 
deep regret is, that any persons should allow themselves to speak of open 
and forcible resistance to the government of their country, and to threaten 
a dissolution of the Union. What is the state of the case ? A great 
measure of national policy is propose:! ; it is a subject of discussion for a 
period of twelve years, in the public prints, in popular assemblies, in polit- 



MR. J. Q. ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. 361 

ical circles, and in the Congress of the United States. That body, after 
hearing the wishes and wants of all parts of the Union, fairly stated by 
their respective representatives, decides by repeated majorities, to adopt the 
measure. It is accordingly put into successful operation, improved from 
time to time, and is rapidly fulfilling all the hopes and expectations of its 
friends. In this encouraging condition of things, a small number of the 
citizens composing the minority (for I will not impute to the great body 
of the minority any such violent purposes), threaten the employment 
of force, and the dissolution of the Union ! Can any principle be more 
subversive of all government, or of a tendency more exceptionable and 
alarming. It amounts to this, that whenever any portion of the com- 
munity finds itself in a minority, in reference to any important act of the 
government, and by high coloring and pictures of imaginary distress, can 
persuade itself that the measure is oppressive, that minority may appeal to 
arms, and if it can, dissolve the Union. Such a principle would reverse the 
established maxim of representative government, according to which, the 
will of the majority must prevail. If it were possible that the minority 
could govern and control, the Union may be indeed as well be dissolved; 
for it would not then be worth preserving. The conduct of an individual 
would not be more unwise and suicidal, who, because of some trifling dis- 
ease afflicting his person should, in a feverish and fretful moment, resolve 
to terminate his existence. 

Nothing can be more unfair and ridiculous than to compare any of the 
acts of the Congress of the United States, representing all, and acting 
for all, to any of the acts of the British Parliament which led to our 
Revolution. The principle on which the colonies seceded was, that there 
should be no taxation without representation. They were not represented 
in the British Parliament, and to have submitted to taxation would have 
been to have submitted to slavery, and to have surrendered the most 
valuable privileges of freemen. If the colonies had been fairly represented 
in the British Parliament, and equal taxes, alike applicable to all parts of 
the British empire, had been impossd by a majority, a case of remote 
analogy to any act of Congress to which a minority is opposed might be 
deduced from the history of the Revolution. But every State of this con- 
federacy is fairly represented, and has the faculty of being fully heard in 
the Congress of the United States. The representation has been regulated 
by a joint principle of distribution, the result of a wise spirit of mutual 
compromise and concession, which I hope never to see disturbed, of which 
none can justly complain, and least of all those citizens who have resorted 
to threats of an appeal to arms and disunion. 

But there is, I hope and believe, no reason to apprehend the execution 
of those empty threats. The good sense, the patriotism, and the high 
character of the people of South Carolina, are sure guaranties for repress- 
ing, without aid, any disorders, should any be attempted within her limits. 
The spirit of Marion, and Pickens, and Sumpter, of the Rutledges, the 



362 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Pinckueys, and of Lowndes, yet survives, and animates the high-minded 
Carolinians. The Taylors, and the Williamses, and their compatriots of 
the present day, will be able to render a just account of all, if there be any 
who shall dare to raise their parricidal hands against the peace, the Con- 
stitution, and the union of the States. Rebuked by public opinion — a 
sufficient corrective — and condemned by their own sober reflections, the 
treasonable purpose will be relinquished, if it were ever seriously contem- 
plated by any. 

I have no fears for the permanency of our Union, while our liberties are 
preserved. It is a tough and strong cord, as all will find who shall pre- 
sumptuously attempt to break it. It has been competent to suppress all 
the domestic insurrections, and to carry us safely through all the foreign 
wars with which we have been afflicted since it was formed, and it has 
come out of each with more strength, and greater promise of durability. 
It is the choicest political blessing which, as a people, we enjoy, and I trust 
and hope that Providence will permit us to transmit it, unimpaired, to pos- 
terity, through endless generations. 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the flattering opinion which you have 
expressed of my public services, and especially of those which I have en- 
deavored to render to the West. While I am sensible that you appreciate 
them much too highly, it is at the same time true, that I have sought, on 
all occasions that appeared to me proper, to advance the interests of that 
section, of which I am proud to be a citizen, whenever I have thought it 
could be done without prejudice to the predominant interests of the whole. 
I have, nevertheless, in several important instances, given my most zealous 
support to measures (the navy, and the late war, for example) in which 
the West could not be regarded as having any distinct or other interest, 
than that which belongs to the honor, the prosperity, and the character, of 
the whole confederacy. During the short period of the present adminis- 
tration, I hope I may be permitted to say, without meaning to claim for it 
exclusive merit, that more has been done and recommended for the West, 
than ever was done during the whole preceding period of our present 
Constitution, with the exception only of the acquisition of Louisiana, under 
the administration of Mr. Jefferson. I have not strength or time to enter 
into details to establish the geueral proposition ; but those who will take 
the trouble to examine the appropriations of laud and of money, for objects 
of internal improvement and education, the measures which have been 
adopted or recommended, in respect to the public domain, the judiciary, 
and so forth, will find that proposition fully sustained. 

There are here many who, by a too flattering estimate of my capacity, 
decided me worthy of the office of chief magistrate, and, during the last 
presidential canvass, honored me with their support. To them I take this 
occasion to say, that, if instead of the present abused chief magistrate, they 
had obtained the preference, the measures of the administration would not 
have been, in any essential particular, different from those which have been 



MR. J. Q. ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. 363 

adopted. All the principal acts and measures of the existing administra- 
tion, have met with my hearty and humble concurrence. 

Cultivating a farm in Kentucky, and having other objects of private 
concern, I have found it necessary, both on that account, and the relaxa- 
tion from official business, indispensable to the preservation of health, an- 
nually to visit this quarter of the Union during the period of my connec- 
tion -with the executive of the United States. In these visits, I have 
frequently met large portions of my fellow-citizens, upon their friendly and 
pressing invitations. My object has been called in question, and my mo- 
tive assailed. It has been said, that my purpose was electioneering. If it 
be intended to charge me with employing improper or dishonorable acts, 
to secure my election, I deny the charge, and disclaim the purpose. I defy 
my most malignant enemies to show that I ever, during any period of my 
life, resorted to such acts to promote my own election, or that of any 
other person. I have availed myself of these assemblies, and of other op- 
portunities, to defend myself against an accusation, publicly made, and a 
thousand times repeated. I had a right to do this by the immutable laws 
of self-defense. My addresses to the public, heretofore, have been gener- 
ally strictly defensive. If they have ever given pain to any of my adver- 
saries, they must reproach themselves with its infliction. There is one 
way, and but one way, in which they can silence me. My traducers have 
attributed to me great facility in making a bargain. Whether I possess it 
or not, there is one bargain which, for their accommodation, I am willing 
to enter into with them. If they will prevail upon their chief to acknowl- 
edge that he has been in error, and has done me injustice, and if they will 
cease to traduce and abuse me, I will no longer present myself before pub- 
lic assemblies, or in public prints, in my own defense. That is one bar- 
gain which I have no expectation of being able to conclude ; for men who 
are in a long-established line of busiuess, will not voluntarily quit their 
accustomed trade, and acknowledge themselves bankrupts to honor, decen- 
cy, and truth. 

Some who have persuaded themselves that they saw in my occasional 
addresses to the people, incompatibility with the dignity and reserve be- 
longing to the office I hold, I know not according to what standard, (it can 
hardly be any deduced from a popular representative government), these 
gentlemen have regulated their opinions. True dignity appeals to me to 
be independent of office or station. It belongs to every condition ; but if 
there be a difference between private and public life, the more exalted the 
station, the greater is the obligation of the public functionary, in my hum- 
ble judgment, to render himself amiable, affable, and accessible. The pub- 
lic officer who displays a natural solicitude to defend himself against a 
charge deeply affecting his honor and his character, manifests, at the same 
time, a just respect for the community. It is, I think, an erroneous judg- 
ment of the nature of office, and its relations, to suppose that it imposes 
the duty on the officer, of abstracting himself from society, and a stiff and 



364 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

stately port. Without, I hope, forgetting what was due to myself, my 
habit, throughout life, has been that of friendly, free, and frank intercourse 
with my fellow-citizens. I have not thought it necessary to change my 
personal identity in any of the various offices through which I have passed, 
or to assume a new character. It may not be easy to draw the line, as to 
the occasions in which a man should remain silent, or defend himself. In 
the general, it is better perhaps, that he should leave his public acts, and 
the measures which he espouses or carries, to their own vindication ; but if 
his integrity be questioned, and dishonorable charges, under high and im- 
posing names, be preferred against hiin, he can not remain silent without 
a culpable insensibility to all that is valuable in human life. 

Sir, I feel that I have trespassed too much, both upon you and myself. 
If prudence were a virtue of which I could boast, I should have spared 
both you and me. But I could not deny myself the gratification of ex- 
pressing my thanks to my Cincinnati friends for the numerous instances 
which I have experienced of their kind and respectful consideration. I 
beg you, and every gentleman here attending, to accept my acknowledg- 
ments ; and I especially owe them to the gentlemen of the committee, 
who did me the honor to meet me at Louisville, and accompany me to this 
city. Whatever may be my future destiny, while my faculties are pre- 
served, I shall cherish a proud and grateful recollection of these testimonies 
of respect and attachment. 



ON RETIRING FROM OFFICE. 

WASHINGTON, MARCH 7, 1829. 

[When Mr. Clay left the State Department for home, in the 
spring of 1829, he met his friends at a dinner, when the follow- 
ing toast was given : 

" Health, prosperity, and happiness to our highly-valued and esteemed guest 
and fellow-citizen, Henry Clay. Whatever the future destination of his life, 
he has done enough for honor, and need desire no higher reward than the deep- 
seated affection and respect of liis friends and his country." 

To which Mr. Clay responded as follows. His allusion to Gen- 
eral Jackson, and the dilemma in which he places him, will be 
read with deep interest.] 

In rising, Mr. President, to ofter my respectful acknowledgments for the 
honors of which I am here the object, I must ask the indulgence of your- 
self and the other gentlemen now™assembled, for an unaffected embarrass- 
ment, which is more sensibly felt than it can be distinctly expressed. This 
city has been the theater of the greater portion of my public life. Yon, 
and others whom I now see, have been spectators of my public course and 
conduct. You and they are, if I may borrow a technical expression from 
an honorable profession of which you and I are both members, jurors of 
the vicinage. To a judgment rendered by those who have thus loug known 
me, and by others though not of the panel, who have possessed equal op- 
portunities of forming correct opinions, I most cheerfully submit. If the 
weight of human testimony should be estimated by the intelligence and 
repectability of the witness, and the extent of his knowledge of the matter 
on which he testifies, the highest consideration is due to that which has 
been this day spontaneously given. I shall ever cherish it with the most 
grateful recollection, and look back upon it with proud satisfaction. 

I should be glad to feel that I could with any propriety abstain from any 
allusion at this time and at this place, to public affairs. But considering 
the occasion which has brought us together, the events which have pre- 
ceded it, and the influence which they may exert upon the destinies of our 
country, my silence might be misintei-preted, and I think it therefore proper 
that I should embrace this first public opportunity which I have had of 



366 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

saying a few words, since the termination of the late memorable and em- 
bittered contest. It is far from my wish to continue or revive the agitation 
with which that contest was attended. It is ended, for good or for evil. 
The nation wants repose. A majority of the people has decided, and from 
their decision there can and ought to he no appeal. Bowing, as I do, with 
profound respect to them, and to this exercise of their sovereign authority, 
I may nevertheless be allowed to retain and express my own unchanged 
sentiments, even if they should not be in perfect coincidence with theirs. 
It is a source of high gratification to me to believe that I share these sen- 
timents in common with more than half a million of freemen, possessing a 
degree of virtue, of intelligence, of religion, and of genuine patriotism, 
which, without disparagement to others, is unsurpassed, in the same num- 
ber of men in this or any other country, in this or any other age. 

I deprecated the election of the present President of the United States, 
because I believed he had neither the temper, the experience, nor the 
attainments requisite to discharge the complicated and arduous duties of 
chief magistrate. I deprecated it still more, because his elevation, I be- 
lieved, would be the result exclusively of admiration and gratitude for 
military service, without regard to indispensable civil qualifications. I can 
neither retract', nor alter, nor modify any opinion which, on these subjects, 
I have at any time heretofore expressed. I thought I beheld in his election 
an awful foreboding of the fate which, at some future (I pray to God that, 
if it ever arrive, it may be some far distant) day, was to befall this infant 
republic. All past history has impressed on my mind this solemn appre- 
hension. Nor is it effaced or weakened by cotemporaneous events passing 
upon our own favored continent. It is remarkable that, at this epoch, at 
the head of eight of the nine independent governments established in both 
Americas, military officers have been placed, or have placed themselves. 
Geueral Lavalle has, by military force, subverted the republic of La Plata. 
General Santa Cruz is the chief magistrate of Bolivia ; Colonel Pinto, of 
Chili ; General Lamar of Peru ; and General Bolivar, of Colombia. Cen- 
tral America, rent in pieces, and bleeding at every pore, from wounds in- 
flicted by contending military factions, is under the alternate sway of their 
chiefs. In the government of our nearest neighbor, an election, conducted 
according to all the requirements of their Constitution, has terminated with 
a majority of the States in favor of Pedfazza, the civil candidate. An in- 
surrection w T as raised in behalf of his military rival ; the cry, not exactly 
of a bargain, but of corruption, was sounded ; the election was annulled, 
and a reform effected by proclaiming General Guerrero, having only a 
iniuority of the States, duly elected president. The thunders from the 
surrounding forts, and the acclamations of the assembled multitude, on the 
4th, told us what general was at the head of our affairs. It is true, and 
in this respect we are happier than some of the American States, that his 
election has not been brought about by military violence. The forms of 
the Constitution have yet remained inviolate. 



ON RETIRING FROM OFFICE. 367 

In re-asserting the opinions which I hold, nothing is further from my 
purpose than to treat with the slightest disrespect those of my fellow- 
citizens, here or elsewhere, who may entertain opposite sentiments. The 
fact of claiming and exercising the free and independent expression of the 
dictates of my own deliberate judgment, affords the strongest guaranty of 
my full recognition of their corresponding privilege. 

A majority of my fellow-citizens, it would seem, do not perceive the 
dangers which I apprehend from the example. Believing that they are not 
real, or that we have some security against their effect, which ancient and 
modern republics have not found, that majority, in the exercise of their in- 
contestable right of suffrage, have chosen for chief magistrate a citizen 
who brings into that high trust no qualification other than military 
triumphs. 

That citizen has done me much injustice — wanton, unprovoked, and un- 
atoned injustice. It was inflicted, as I must ever believe, for the double 
purpose of gratifying private resentment and promoting personal ambition. 
When, during the late canvass, he came forward in the public prints under 
his proper name, with his charge against me, and summoned before the 
public tribunal his friend and his only witness to establish it, the anxious 
attention of the whole American people was directed to the testimony 
which that witness might render. He promptly obeyed the call and testi- 
fied to what he knew. He could say nothing, and he said nothing, which 
cast the slightest shade upon my honor or integrity. What he did say 
was the reverse of any implication of me. Then all just and impartial 
men, all who had faith in the magnanimity of my accuser, believed that 
he would voluntarily make a public acknowledgment of his error. How 
far this reasonable expectation has been fulfilled, let his persevering and 
stubborn silence attest. But my relations to that citizen by a recent event 
are now changed. Ho is the chief magistrate of my country, invested 
with large and extensive powers, the administration of which may conduce 
to its prosperity or occasion its adversity. Patriotism enjoins as a duty, 
that while he is in that exalted station, he should be treated with decorum, 
and his official acts be judged of in a spirit of candor. Suppressing, as 
far as I can, a sense of my personal wrong ; willing even to forgive him, 
if his own conscience and our common God can acquit him ; and en- 
tertaining for the majority which has elected him, and for the office which 
he fills, all the deference which is due from a private citizen ; I most anx- 
iously hope, that under his guidance the great interests of our country, 
foreign and domestic, may be upheld, our free institutions be unimpaired, 
and the happiness of the nation be continued and increased. 

While I am prompted by an ardent devotion to the welfare of my coun- 
try, sincerely to express this hope, I make no pledges, no promises, no threats, 
and I must add, I have no confidence. My public life, I trust, furnishes 
the best guaranty for my faithful adherence to those great principles of 
external and internal policy, to which it has been hitherto zealously dedi- 



368 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

cated. Whether I shall ever hereafter take any part in the public coun- 
cils or not, depends upon circumstances beyond my control. Holding the 
principle that a citizen, as long as a single pulsation remains, is under an 
obligation to exert his utmost energies in the service of his country, if 
necessary, whether in private or public station, my friends, here and every- 
where, may rest assured that, in either condition, I shall stand erect, with 
a spirit uuconquered, while life endures, ready to second their exertions in 
the cause of liberty, the Union, and the national prosperity. 

Before I sit down, I avail myself with pleasure of this opportunity to 
make ray grateful acknowledgments, for the courtesies and friendly atten- 
tions which I have uniformly experienced from the inhabitants of this city. 
A free and social intercourse with them, during a period of more than 
twenty years, is about to terminate, without any recollection on my part 
of a single painful collision, and without leaving behind me, as far as I 
know, a solitary personal enemy. If, in the sentiment with which I am 
about to conclude, I do not give a particular expression to the feelings in- 
spired by the interchange of civilities and friendly offices, I hope the 
citizens of Washington will be assured that their individual happiness and 
the growth and prosperity of this city will ever be objects of my fervent 
wishes. In the sentiment which I shall presently offer, they are indeed 
comprehended. For the welfare of this city is indissolubly associated with 
that of our Union, and the preservation of our liberty, I request permis- 
sion to propose, 

Let us Never Despair of the American Republic. 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 

LEXINGTON, MAY 16, 1829. 

[The following speech will be read with interest on several 
accounts. It finds Mr. Clay in private life, after the labors of 
four years in the State Department, and after four years of a 
relentless persecution, in which he was chased, as a pack of 
hounds, with open mouth, chase their game in the forest — with 
this difference, that Mr. Clay was not run down. But the bark- 
ing never ceased — never relaxed — but was more noisy and earn- 
est to the last. Why Mr. Adams should not have had an equal 
share as an object of this hot pursuit, having been equal in the 
offense, as charged, was probably because he was less formidable 
as a rival of General Jackson. In killing Mr. Clay, for the 
reasons assigned, they of course disposed of Mr. Adams. All 
the hostile batteries of this four years' contest were pointed di- 
rectly at Mr. Clay. The battle over, and General Jackson presi- 
dent, Mr. Clay finds himself in private life, with no views or 
aspirations for the future, if we may judge from what he said on 
this occasion. For the present, he declines all the wishes of his 
former constituents, to return to Congress, or to go into the 
State Legislature, where, at this time, he was especially needed. 
But his health was seriously impaired, and he needed repose. 
His private affairs, too, required his attention. 

But his old constituents wanted to hear him speak on public 
affairs, and they gave him a public dinner at Fowler's Garden, 
where an immense concourse assembled to meet him, on the 
16th of May, a little over two months after General Jackson's 
inauguration. Many of his political opponents were there, 
who meekly received what he had to say of their military chief- 
tain, who had not been two months in power without using it as 
no other chief magistrate had ever done, and which Mr. Clay 
was forced to notice with severe animadversion. General Jack- 
son had commenced a system of removal from office and of ap- 
pointments on a large scale, to give the places made vacant to 

24 



370 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY. 

those who had served him personally. It was a bold innovation 
in the history of the government, which Mr. Clay thought would 
be of pernicious consequence ; and so it has proved ; for the 
practice, since that time, has been, for every new administration 
of different politics from the preceding one, to clear out the in- 
cumbents of office, who have served their apprenticeship, and 
become qualified to serve the country, and instal in their places 
men who, in their turn, after having learned to do their work, 
are also superseded on the incoming of a new administration. 
Even foreign ministers are changed, at great expense to the 
country, by means of allowances made for new outfits and the 
duplication of salaries. In this way, the expenses of the foreign 
ministers of the country are nearly or quite doubled over and 
above the intention of law, and the government is represented 
abroad by men sometimes almost totally unfit for their stations, 
till our foreign diplomatic agents have sunk to the lowest grade 
of respectability, and become the subjects of contempt among 
the skilled diplomatists of other nations. In this manner, both 
the home and foreign service of our government has become 
the poorest in the world — all from this innovation of General 
Jackson, which forms so considerable a topic of the following 
speech. 

The Ostend Manifesto is a notable and disgraceful instance of 
American diplomacy — which, indeed, is no diplomacy at all, but 
a violation of all rules of the art. The high art of diplomacy 
is to conceal, not to divulge, the policy of the nation represent- 
ed ; whereas this Ostend Manifesto is entirely without the pale 
of diplomacy, being a gratuitous and shameful exposure of a 
policy which should never have been named, even if it had been 
entertained. Foreign ministers, departing in this maimer from 
the specific instructions given them to the governments whither 
they were sent, and exposing the policy of their country to a 
universal reprobation of all the world, should have been in- 
stantly recalled, and suitably rebuked for going outside of their 
instructions, and publishing to the world what will forever be 
the shame of the American nation. To such a humiliating 
depth of infamy have our foreign diplomatists brought us — all 
for being ignorant of the art of diplomacy. We could better 
afford a bad home service, by this frequent turning out of men 
who have just learned to fill their places, and the putting in of 
persons totally unqualified for their duties. But for a nation to 
be subject to both these evils, to such an alarming extent, is a 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 371 

cost which no nation can long endure — certainly ought not to 
be doomed to, when it can be better served, both at home and 
abroad. The introduction of this pernicious system is well ex- 
posed by Mr. Clay, in reply to the following toast, given to his 
honor on this occasion : 

"Our distinguished guest, friend, and neighbor, Henry Clay : with increased 
proofs of his worth, we delight to renew the assurance of our confidence in 
his patriotism, talents, and incorruptibility. May health and happiness attend 
him in retirement, and a grateful nation do justice to his virtues-"] 

I fear, friends and fellow-citizens, that if I could find language to ex- 
press the feelings which now animate me, I could not be heard throughout 
this vast assembly. My voice, once strong and powerful, has had its vigor 
impaired by delicate health and advancing age. You must have been 
separated, as I have been, for four years past, from some of your best and 
dearest friends, with whom during the greater part of your lives, you had 
associated in the most intimate friendly intercourse ; you must have been 
traduced, as I have been, after exerting with zeal and fidelity the utmost 
of your powers to promote the welfare of our country ; and you must have 
returned among those warm-hearted friends, and been greeted and wel- 
comed and honored by them, as I have recently been, before you could 
estimate the degree of sensibility which I now feel, or conceive how utterly 
inadequate all human language is to portray the grateful emotions of my 
heart. I behold gathered here, as I have seen in other instances since my 
return among you, sires far advanced in years, endeared to me by inter- 
change of friendly office and sympathetic feeling beginning more than 
thirty years ago. Their sons, grown up during my absence in the public 
councils, accompanying them ; and all, prompted by ardent attachment, 
affectionately surrounding and saluting me, as if I belonged to their own 
household. Considering the multitude here assembled, their standing and 
respectability, and the distance which many have come personally to see 
me, and to testify their respect and confidence, I consider this day and this 
occasion as the proudest of my life. The tribute, thus rendered by my 
friends, neighbors, and fellow-citizens, flows spontaneously from their 
hearts, as it penetrates the inmost recesses of mine. Tendered in no ser- 
vile spirit, it does not aim to propitiate one in authority. Power could not 
buy or coerce it. The offspring of enlightened and independent freemen, 
it is addressed to a beloved fellow-citizen in private life, without office, 
and who can. present nothing in return but his hearty thanks. I pray all 
of you, gentlemen, to accept these. They are due to every one of you for 
the sentiment just pronounced, and for the proceedings of this day. And 
I owe a particular expression of them to that portion of my friends, who, 
although I had the misfortune to differ from them in the late contest, have 



372 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

honored me by their attendance here. I have no reproaches to make them. 
Regrets I have ; but I give, as I have received from them, the hand of 
friendship as cordially as it is extended to any of my friends. It is highly 
gratifying to me to know, that they, and thousands of others who co-oper- 
ated with them in producing the late political change, were unaffected 
toward me by the prejudice attempted to be excited against me. I enter- 
tain too high respect for the inestimable privilege of freely exercising one's 
independent judgment on public affairs, to draw in question the right of 
any of my fellow-citizens to form and to act upon their opinions in oppo- 
sition to mine. The best and wisest among us are, at best, but weak and 
fallible human beings. And no man ought to set up his own judgment as 
an unerring standard, by which the correctness of all others is to be tested 
and tried. 

It can not be doubted that, with individual exceptions, the great body 
of every political party that has hitherto appeared in this country, has 
been honest in its intentions, and patriotic in its aims. Whole parties 
may have been sometimes deceived and deluded, but without being con- 
scious of it; they no doubt sought to advance the welfare of the country. 
Where such a contest has existed as that which we have recently witnessed, 
there will be prejudices on the one side, and predilections on the other. 
If, during its progress, we can not calm the passions, and permit truth and 
reason to have their undisturbed sway, we ought, at least, after it has 
terminated, to own their empire. Judging of public men and public 
measures in a spirit of candor, we should strive to eradicate every bias, and 
to banish from our minds every consideration not connected with the good 
of our country. 

I do not pretend to be, more than other men, exempt from the influence 
of prejudice and predilection. But I declare most sincerely, that I have 
sought, in reference to the present administration, and shall continue to 
strive, to discard all prejudices, and to judge its acts and measures as they 
appear to me to affect the interests of our country. 

A large portion of my friends and fellow-citizens, from whom I differed 
on the late occasion, did not disagree with me as to the foreign or domestic 
policy of government. We only differed in the selection of agents to 
carry that policy into effect. Experience can alone determine who was 
right. If that policy continues to be pursued under the new administra- 
tion, it shall have as cordial support from me, as if its care had been con- 
fided to agents of my choice. If, on the contrary, it shall be neglected or 
abandoned, the friends to whom I now refer will be bound by ail the obli- 
gations of patriotism and consistency to adhere to the policy. 

We take a new commencement from the 4th of March last. After that 
day, those who supported the election of the present chief magistrate 
were left as free to judge of the conduct of its administration, as those 
who opposed. It will be no more inconsistent iu them, if it disappoint 
their expectations, to disapprove his administration, than it will be to sup* 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 373 

port it, if, disappointing ours, he should preserve the established policy of 
the nation, aud introduce no new principles of alarming tendency. 

They bestowed their suffrages upon the supposition that the government 
would be well administered ; that public pledges would be redeemed, 
solemn professions be fulfilled, and the rights and liberties of the people 
be protected and maintained. If they shall find themselves deceived in 
any of these respects ; should principles avowed during the canvass be 
violated during the presidency, and new principles of dangerous import, 
neither avowed to nor anticipated by them, be put forth, they will have 
been betrayed ; the distinguished individual for whom they voted will have 
failed to preserve his identity, and they will be urged by the most sacred 
of duties to apply the proper corrective. 

Government is a trust, and the officers of government are trustees ; and 
both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people. 
Official incumbents are bound, therefore, to administer the trust, not for 
their own private or individual benefits, but so as to promote the prosperity 
of the people. This is the vital principle of a republic. If a different 
principle prevail, and a government be so administered as to gratify the 
passions or to promote the interests of a particular individual, the forms of 
free institutions may remain, but that government is essentially a monarchy. 
The great difference between the two forms of government is, that in a 
republic all power and authority, and all public offices and honors, emanate 
from the people, aud are exercised and held for their benefit. In a 
monarchy, all power and authority, all offices and honors, proceed from 
the monarch. His interests, his caprices, and his passions, influence and 
control the destinies of the kingdom. In a republic, the people are every 
thing, and a particular individual nothing. In a monarchy, the monarch 
is every thing, and the people nothing. And the true character of the 
government is stamped, not by the forms of the appointment to office 
alone, but by its practical operation. If in one, nominally free, the chief 
magistrate, as soon as he is clothed with power, proceeds to exercise it, so 
as to minister to his passions, and to gratify his favorites, and systematically 
distributes his rewards and punishments, in the application of the power 
of patronage, with which he is invested for the good of the whole, upon 
the principle of devotion and attachment to him, and not accordino- to 
the ability and fidelity with which the people are or may be served, that 
chief magistrate, for the time being, and within the scope of his discre- 
tionary powers, is iu fact, if not in form, a monarch. 

It was objected to the late administration, that it adopted and enforced 
a system of proscription. During the whole period of it, not a solitary of- 
ficer of the government, from Maine to Louisiana, within my knowledge, 
was dismissed on account of his political opinions. It was well known to 
the late president, that many officers, who held their places subject to the 
power of dismission, were opposed to his re-election, and were actively em- 
ployed in behalf of his competitor. Yet not one was discharged from that 



"6 



374 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

cause. In the commencement and early part of his administration, appoint- 
ments were promiscuously made from all the parties in the previous canvass. 
And this course was pursued until an opposition was organized, which 
denounced all appointments from its ranks as being made for impure pur- 
poses. 

I am aware that it may be urged, that a change was made in some of 
the publishers of the laws. There are about eighty annually designated. 
Of these, during the four years of the late administration, about twelve or 
fifteeen were changed. Some of the changes were made from geographi- 
cal or other local considerations. In several instances one friend was sub- 
stituted for another. Iu others, one opponent for another. 

Several papers, among the most influential in the opposition, but other- 
wise conducted with decorum, were retained. Of the entire number of 
changes, not more than four or five were made because of the scurrilous 
character of their papers, and not on account of the political sentiments of 
the editors. It was deemed injurious to the respect and moral influence, 
which the laws should always command, that they should be promulgated 
in the columns of a public paper, parallel with which were other columns) 
in the same paper, of the grossest abuse of the government and its func- 
tionaries. 

On this subject I can speak with certainty, and I embrace with pleasure 
this opportunity for explanation. The duty of designating the printers of 
the laws appertains to the office which I lately filled. The selection is 
usually made at the commencement of every session of Congress. It was 
made by me, without any particular consultation with the president, or any 
member of his cabinet. In matins it, I felt under no Greater obligation to 
select the publisher of the la- s of the previous year, than an individual 
feels himself bound to insert a succeeding advertisement in the same paper 
which published his last. The law does not require it, but leaves the Sec- 
retary of State at liberty to make the selection according to his sense of 
propriety. A publisher of the laws is not an officer of the government. It 
has been judicially so decided. He holds no commission. The accuracy 
of the statement, therefore, that no officer of the government was dismissed 
by the late administration, in consequence of his political opinions, is not 
impaired by the few changes of publishers of the laws which were made. 

But if they had been officers of government, who could have imagined 
that those who objected to the removal, would so soon have themselves put 
in practice a general and sweeping system of exclusion. 

The president is invested with the tremendous power of dismission, to be 
exercised for the public good, and not to gratify any private passions or 
purposes. It was conferred to prevent the public from suffering through 
faithless or incompetent officers. It was made summary because, if the 
slow progress of trial before a judicial tribunal were resorted to, the public 
might be greatly injured during the progress and prior to, the decision of 
the case. But it never was in the contemplation of Congress, that the 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 375 

power would or could be applied to the removal of competent, diligent, 
and faithful officers. Such an application of it is an act of arbitrary power, 
and a great abuse. 

I regret extremely that I feel constrained to notice the innovation upon 
the principles and practice of our institutions now in progress. I had most 
anxiously hoped, that I could heartily approve the acts and measures of 
the new administration. And I yet hope that it will pause, and hereafter 
pursue a course more in unison with the spirit of a free government. I en- 
treat my friends and fellow-citizens, here and elsewhere, to be persuaded 
that I now perform a painful duty ; and that it is far from my wish to say 
one word that can inflict any wound upon the feelings of any of them. I 
think, indeed, that it is the duty of all of them to exercise their judgments 
freely and independently on what is passing; and that none ought to feel 
themselves restrained, by false pride, or by any part which they took in the 
late election, from condemning what their hearts can not approve. 

Knowing the imputations to which I expose myself, I would remain si- 
lent if I did not solemnly believe that there was serious cause of alarm in the 
principle of removal, which has been recently acted on. Hitherto, the uni- 
form practice of the government has been, where charges are preferred 
against public officers, foreign or domestic, to transmit to them a copy of 
the charges, for the purpose of refutation or explanation. This has been 
considered an equitable substitute to the more tedious and formal trials 
before judicial tribunals. But now, persons are dismissed, not only with- 
out trial of any sort, but without charge. And, as if the intention were to 
defy public opinion, and to give to the acts of power a higher degree of 
enormity, in some instances the persons dismissed have carried with them, 
in their pockets, the strongest testimonials to their ability and integrity, 
furnished by the very instruments employed to execute the purposes of 
oppression. If the new administration had found these discharged officers 
wanting in a zealous co-operation to execute the laws, in consequence of 
their preference at the preceding election, there would have been ground 
for their removal. But this has not been pretended ; and to show that it 
formed no consideration, they have been dismissed among its first acts, with- 
out affording them an opportunity of manifesting that their sense of public 
duty was unaffected by the choice which they had at the preceding election. 

I will not dwell on the injustice and individual distress which are the 
necessary consequences of these acts of authority. Men who accepted 
public employments entered on them with the implied understanding, that 
they would be retained as long as they continued to discharge their duties 
to the public honestly, ably, and assiduously. All their private airange- 
ments are made accordingly. To be dismissed without fault, and without 
trial; to be expelled, with their families, without the means of support, 
and in some instances disqualified by age or by official habits from the 
pursuit of any other business, and all this to be done upon the will of one 
man, in a free government, was surely intolerable oppression. 



376 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Our institutions proclaim, reason enjoins, and conscience requires, that 
every freeman shall exercise the elective franchise freely, and independ- 
ently ; and that among the candidates for his suffrage, he shall fearlessly 
bestow it upon him who will best advance the interests of his country. 
The presumption is, that this is always done, unless the contrary appears. 
But if the consequence of such a performance of patriotic duty is to be 
punishment ; if an honest and sincere preference of A. to J. is to be treated 
as a crime, then our dearest privilege is a mockery, and our institutions 
are snares. 

During tire reign of Bonaparte, upon one of those occasions in which 
he affected to take the sense of the French people as to his being made 
consul for life, or emperor, an order was sent to the French armies to col- 
lect their suffrages. They were told in a public proclamation , that they 
were authorized and requested to vote freely, according to the dictates of 
their best judgments, and their honest convictions. But a mandate was 
privately circulated among them, importing that if any soldier voted 
against Bonaparte, he should be instantly shot. 

Is there any other difference, except in the mode of punishment, between 
that case and the arbitrary removal of men from their public stations, for 
no other reason, than that of an honest and conscientious preference of 
one presidential candidate to another ? And can it be doubted, that the 
spirit which prompts these removals is restrained from being extended to 
all, in private life, who manifested a similar preference, only by barriers 
which it dare not yet break down ? But should public opinion sanction 
them, how long will these barriers remain ? 

One of the worst consequences of the introduction of this tenure of 
public office will be, should it be permanently adopted, to substitute for a 
system of responsibility, founded upon the ability and integrity with which 
public officers discharge their duties to the community, a system of uni- 
versal rapacity. Incumbents, feeling the instability of their situations, and 
knowing their liability to periodical removals, at short terms, without any 
regard to the manner in which they have executed their trusts, will be dis- 
posed to make the most of their uncertain offices while they hold them. 
And hence we may expect innumerable cases of fraud, peculation, and 
corruption. 

President Jackson commenced his official career on the 4th of March 
last, with every motive which should operate on the human heart to urge 
him to forget the prejudices and passions which had been exhibited in the 
previous contest, and to practice dignified moderation and forbearance. 
He had been the choice of a considerable majority of the people, and was 
elected by a large majority of the electoral votes. He had been elected 
mainly from the all-powerful influence of gratitude for his brilliant military 
services, in spite of uoubts and fears entertained by many who contributed 
to his elevation. He was far advanced in years, and if fame speak true, 
was suffering under the joint infirmities of age and disease. He had re- 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 377 

cently been visited by one of the severest afflictions of Providence, in the 
privation of the partner of his bosom, whom he is represented to have 
tenderly loved, and who warmly returned all his affection. He had no 
child on whom to cast his honors. Under such circumstances, was ever 
man more imperiously called upon to stifle all the vindictive passions of 
his nature, to quell every rebellious feeling of his heart, and to dedicate 
the short residue of his life to the God who had so long blessed and spared 
him, and to the country which had so greatly honored him ? 

I sincerely hope that he will yet do this. I hope so for the sake of hu- 
man nature, and for the sake of his own reputation. Whether he has, 
during the two months of his administration, so conducted himself, let 
facts tell and history pronounce. Truth is mighty and will prevail. 

It was objected to Mr. Adams, that by appointing several members of 
Congress to public places, he endangered the purity of the body, and es- 
tablished a precedent fraught with the most dangerous consequences. And 
president Jackson (no, he begged his pardon, it was candidate Jackson), 
was so much alarmed by these appointments, for the integrity and per- 
manency of our institutions, that in a solemn communication which he 
made to the Legislature of Tennessee, he declared his firm conviction to 
be, that no member of Congress ought to be appointed to any office except 
a seat upon the bench. And he added, that he himself would conform to 
that rule. 

During the four years of Mr. Adams's administration, the whole number 
of appointments made by him from Congress, did not exceed four or five. 
In the first four weeks of that of his successor, more than double that num- 
ber have been appointed by him. In the first two months of president 
Jackson's administration, he has appointed more members of Congress to 
public office, than I believe were appointed by any one of his predecessors 
during their whole period of four or eight years. And it appears, that no 
office is too high or too low to be bestowed by him on this favored class, 
from that of a head of a Department, down to an inconsiderable collector- 
ship, or even a subordinate office under a collector. If I have not been 
misinformed, a representative from the greatest commercial metropolis in 
the United States, has recently been appointed to some inferior station, by 
the collector of the port of New York. 

Without meaning to assert as a general principle, that in no case would 
it be proper that a resort should be had to the halls of Congress, to draw 
from them tried talents, and experienced public servants, to aid in the ex- 
ecutive or judicial departments, all must agree, that such a resort should 
not be too often made, and that there should be some limit both as to the 
number and the nature of the appointments. And I do sincerely think, 
that this limit has, in both particulars, been transcended beyond all safe 
bounds, and so as to excite serious apprehensions. 

It is not, however, my opinion, but that of president Jackson, which 
the public has now to consider. Having declared to the American people 



378 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

through the Tennessee Legislature, the danger of the practice ; having 
deliberately committed himself to act in consonance with that declared 
opinion, how can he now he justified in violating this solemn pledge, and 
in entailing upou his country a perilous precedeut, fraught with the cor- 
rupting tendency which he described? 

It is vain to say, that the Constitution, as it now stands, does not forbid 
these appointments. It does not enjoin them. If there be an inherent 
defect in the theoretical character of that instrument, president Jackson 
was bound to have redeemed his pledge, and employed the whole influence 
and weight of his name to remedy the defect in its practical operation. 
The Constitution admitted of the service of one man in the presidential 
office, during his life, if he could secure successive elections. That great 
reformer, as president Jackson describes him, whom he professes to imitate, 
did not wait for an amendment of the Constitution, to correct that defect ; 
but after the example of the father of his country, by declining to serve 
longer than two terms, established a practical principle which is not likely 
to be violated. 

There was another class of citizens upon whom public offices had been 
showered in the greatest profusion. I do not know the number of editors 
of newspapers that have been recently appointed, but I have noticed in the 
public prints, some fifteen or twenty. And they were generally of those 
whose papers had manifested the greatest activity in the late canvass, the 
most vulgar abuse of opponents, and the most fulsome praise of their 
favorite candidate. Editors are as much entitled to be appointed as any 
other class of the community ; but if the number aud the quality of those 
promoted, be such as to render palpable the motive of their appointment ; 
if they are preferred, not on account of their fair pretensions, and their 
ability and capacity to serve the public, but because of their devotion to a 
particular individual, I ask if the necessary consequence must not be to 
render the press venal, and in time to destroy this hitherto justly cherished 
palladium of our liberty. 

If the principle of all these appointments, this monopoly of public trusts 
by members of Congress and particular editors, be exceptionable (and I 
would not have alluded to them but from my deliberate conviction that 
they are essentially vicious), their effects are truly alarming. I will not 
impute to president Jackson any design to subvert our liberties. 1 hope 
and believe, that he does not now entertain any such design. But I must 
say, that if an ambitious president sought the overthrow of our government, 
and ultimately to establish a different form, he would, at the commence- 
ment of his administration, proclaim by his official acts, that the greatest 
public virtue was ardent devotion to him. That no matter what had been 
the character, the services, or the sacrifices of incumbents or applicants for 
office, what their experience or ability to serve the republic, if they did not 
bow down and worship him, they possessed no claim to his patronage. 
Such an ambitious president would say, as monarchs have said, " I am the 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 379 

State." He would dismiss all from public employment who did not be- 
long to the true faith. He would stamp upon the whole official corps of 
government one homogeneous character, and infuse into it one uniform 
principle of action. He would scatter, with an open and liberal hand, offi- 
ces among the members of Congress, giving the best to those who had 
spoken, and written, and franked, most in his behalf. He would subsidize 
the press. It would be his earnest and constant aim to secure the two 
greatest engines of operation upon public opinion — Congress and the press. 
He would promulgate a new penal code, the rewards and punishments of 
which, would be distributed and regulated exclusively by devotion or op- 
position to him. And when all this powerful machinery was put in opera- 
tion, if he did not succeed in subverting the liberties of his country, and in 
establishing himself upon a throne, it would be because some new means 
or principle of resistance had been discovered, which was unknown in other 
times or to other republics. 

But if an administration, conducted in the manner just proposed, did 
not aim at the destruction of public liberty, it would engender evils of a 
magnitude so great as gradually to alienate the affections of the people 
from their government, and finally lead to its overthrow. According to 
the principle now avowed and practiced, all offices, vacant and filled, 
within the compass of the Executive power, are to be allotted among the 
partisans of the successful candidate. The people and the service ' of the 
State are to be put aside, and every thing is to be decided by the zeal, 
activity, and attachment, in the cause of a particular candidate, which were 
manifested during the preceding canvass. The consequence of these prin- 
ciples would be to convert the nation into one perpetual theater for polit- 
ical gladiators. There would be one universal scramble for the public 
offices. The termination of one presidential contest would be only the 
signal for the commencement of another. And on the conclusion of each 
we should behold the victor distributing the prizes and applying his pun- 
ishments, like a military commander, immediately after he had won a 
great victory. Congress corrupted, and the press corrupted, general cor- 
ruption would ensue, until the substance of free government having disap- 
peared, some pretorian band would arise, and with the general concurrence 
of a distracted people, put an end to useless forms. 

I am aware that the late acts of administration on which it has been my 
disagreeable duty to animadvert (I hope without giving pain to any of my 
fellow-citizens, as I most sincerely wish to give none), were sustained upon 
some vague notion or purpose of reform. And it was remarkable that 
among the loudest trumpeters of reform were some who had lately re- 
ceived appointments to lucrative offices. Now it must be admitted that, 
as to them, a most substantial and valuable reform had taken place ; but I 
trust that something more extensively beneficial to the people at large was 
intended by that sweet-sounding word. I know that, at the commence- 
ment, and throughout nearly the whole progress of the late administration, 



380 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

a reform in the Constitution was talked of, so as to exclude from public 
office members of Congress, during the periods for which they are elected, 
and a limited term beyond them. The proposition appeared to be received 
with much favor, was discussed in the House of Representatives, session 
after session, at great length, and with unusual eloquence and ability. A 
majority of that body seemed disposed to accede to it, and I thought for 
some time that there was high probability of its passage, at least, through 
that House. Its great champion (General Smyth, of Virginia), pressed it 
with resolute perseverance. But unfortunately, at the last session, after the 
decision of the presidential question, it was manifest that the kindness with 
which it had been originally received had greatly abated. Its determined 
patron found it extremely difficult to engage the House to consider it. 
When, at length, he prevailed by his frequent and earnest appeals to get it 
taken up, new views appeared to have suddenly struck the reformists. It 
was no longer an amendment in their eyes, so indispensable to the purity 
of our Constitution ; and the majority which had appeared to be so resolv- 
ed to carry it, now, by a direct or indirect vote, gave it the go-by. That 
majority, I believe, was composed in part of members who, after the 4th 
of March last, gave the best practical recantation of their opinions, by ac- 
cepting from the new president lucrative appointments, in direct opposition 
to the principle of their own amendment. And now General Smyth would 
find it even more impracticable to make among them proselytes to his con- 
servative alteration in the Constitution, than he did to gain any to his ex- 
position of the Apocalypse. 

Reform, such as alone could interest a whole people, can only take place 
in the Constitution, or laws, or policy of the government. Now and then, 
under every administration, and at all times, a faithless or incompetent 
officer may be discovered who ought to be displaced. And that in all the 
departments of the government. But I presume that the correction of 
such occasional abuses could hardly be expected to fulfill the promise of 
reform which had been so solemnly made. I would then ask, what was 
the reform intended i What part of the Constitution was to be altered ? 
What law repealed ? What branch of the settled policy of the country was 
to be changed ? The people have a right to know what great blessing was 
intended by their rulers for them, and to demand some tangible practical 
good, in lieu of a general, vague, and undefined assurance of reform. 

I know that the recent removals from office are attempted to be justified 
by a precedent drawn from Mr. Jefferson's administration. But there was 
not the most distant analogy between the two cases. Several years prior 
to his election, the public offices of the country had been almost ex- 
clusively bestowed upon the party to which that at the head of which he 
stood was opposed. When he commenced his administration he found a 
complete monopoly of them in the hands of the adverse party. He dis- 
missed a few incumbents for the purpose of introducing in their places 
others of his own party, and thus doing equal justice to both sects. But 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON^ ADMINISTRATION. 381 

the number of removals was far short of those which are now in progress. 
When president Jackson entered on his administration he found a far dif- 
ferent state of things. There had been no previous monopoly. Public 
offices were alike filled by his friends and opponents in the late election* 
If the fact could be ascertained, I believe it would be found that there was 
a larger number of officers under the government attached than opposed 
to his late election. 

Further, in the case of Mr. Jefferson's election, it was the consequence 
of the people having determined on a radical change of system. There 
was a general belief among the majority who brought about that event, 
that their opponents had violated the Constitution in the enactment of the 
alien and sedition laws ; that they had committed other great abuses, and 
that some of them contemplated an entire change in the character of our 
government, so as to give it a monarchical cast. I state the historical fact, 
without intending to revive the discussion, or deeming it necessary to 
examine whether such a design existed or not. But those who at that 
day did believe it, could hardly be expected to acquiesce in the possession 
by their opponents, the minority of the nation, of all the offices of a gov- 
ernment to which some of them were believed to be hostile in principle. 
The object of Mr. Jefferson was to break down a pre-existing monopoly in 
the hands of one party, and to establish an equilibrium between the two 
great parties. The object of president Jackson appears to be, to destroy 
an existing equilibrium between the two parties to the late contest, and 
to establish a monopoly. The object of president Jefferson, -was the 
republic, and not himself. That of president Jackson is himself, and not 
the State. 

It never was advanced under Mr. Jefferson's administration, that devotion 
and attachment to him were an indispensable qualification, without which 
no one could hold or be appointed to office. The contrast between the 
inaugural speech of that great man, and that of his present successor, was 
remarkable in every respect. Mr. Jefferson's breathed a spirit of peace. 
It breathed a spirit of calm philosophy and dignified moderation. It 
treated the nation as one family. " We are all republicans, all federalists." 
It contained no denunciations ; no mysterious or ambiguous language ; no 
reflections upoii^ the conduct of his great rival and immediate predecessor. 
What is the character of the inaugural speech of the present chief magis- 
trate, I shall not attempt to sketch. Mr. Jefferson, upon the solemn oc- 
casion of his installation into office, laid down his rule for appointment to 
office — " Is he honest ? is he capable ? is he faithful to the Constitution ?" 
But capacity, and integrity, and fidelity, according to the modern rule, ap- 
pear to count for nothing, without the all-absorbing virtue of fidelity to 
president Jackson. 

I will not consume the time of my friends and fellow-citizens with ob- 
servations upon many of the late chauges. 

My object has been, to point your attention to the principle which ap- 



382 SPEECHES OF HENEY CLAY. 

pears to have governed all of them, and to classes. I would not have 
touched this unpleasant topic, but that it seems to me to furnish much 
and just occasion for serious alarm. I hope that I have treated it in a 
manner becoming me, without incurring the displeasure of any one now 
present. I believe the times require all the calm heads and sound hearts 
of the country. And I would not intentionally say one word to excite the 
passions. 

But there are a few cases of recent removal of such flagrant impropriety, 
as I sincerely think, that I can not forbear alluding to them. Under no 
administration prior to the present, from the commencement of the gov- 
ernment, have our diplomatic representatives been recalled from abroad, on 
account of the political opinions they entertained in regard to a previous 
presidential election. Within my recollection, at this time, there has been 
but one instance of recall of a foreign minister under the present Consti- 
tution, on account of any dissatisfaction with him. But president Wash- 
ington did not recall Colonel Monroe (the case referred to) from France, 
on his individual account, but because he was not satisfied with the manner 
in which he performed the duties of the mission. President Jackson has 
ordered home two of our foreign ministers, one filling the most important 
European mission, and the other the most important of our missions on 
this continent. In both cases the sole ground of recall is, that they were 
opposed to his election as president. And as if there should be no pos- 
sible controversy on this head, one of them w r as recalled before it was 
known at Washington that he had reached Bogota, the place of his desti- 
nation ; and consequently before he could have possibly disobeyed any in- 
struction, or violated any duty. 

The pecuniary effect of these changes, is the certain expenditure, in 
outfits, of eighteen thousand dollars, and perhaps more than triple that 
sum in contingences. Now it does seem to me, that (and I put it to your 
candid judgments whether) this is too large a sum for the public to pay, 
because two gentlemen had made a mistake of the name which they should 
have written on a little bit of paper thrown into the ballot-boxes. Mis- 
take ! They had, in fact, made no practical mistake. They had not voted 
at all, one being out of the United States, and the other out of his own 
State at the time of the election. The money is therefore to be paid be- 
cause they made a mistake in the abstract opinions which they held, and 
might possibly, if they had been at home, have erroneously inscribed one 
name instead of another on their ballots. 

There would be some consolation for this waste of public treasure, if it 
were compensated by the superiority of qualification on the part of the 
late appointments, in comparison with the im'evious. But I know all four 
of the gentlemen perfectly well, and my firm conviction is, that in neither 
change has the public gained any intellectual advantage. In one of them, 
indeed, the victor of Tippecanoe and the Thames, of whose gallantry many 
who are now here were witnesses, is replaced by a gentleman who, if he 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 383 

possesses one single attainment to qualify him for the office, I solemnly 
declare it lias escaped my discernment. 

There was another class of persons whose expulsion from office was 
marked by peculiar hardship and injustice. Citizens of the District of 
Columbia were deprived of all actual participation in the elections of the 
United States. They are debarred from voting for a president, or any 
member of Congress. Their sentiments, therefore, in relation to any elec- 
tion of those officers, are perfectly abstract. To punish them, as in nu- 
merous instances has been done, by dismissing them from their employ- 
ments, not for what they did, but for what they thought, is a cruel ag- 
gravation of their anomalous condition. I know well those who have been 
discharged from the Department of State, and I take great pleasure in 
bearing testimony to their merits. Some of them would have done honor 
to any bureau in any country. 

We may worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences. 
No man's right, in that respect, can be called in question. The Consti- 
tution secures it. Public offices are happily, according to the theory 
of our Constitution, alike accessible to all, Protestants and Catholics, . 
and to every denomination of each. But if our homage is not paid to 
a mortal, w r e are liable to a punishment which an erroneous worship of 
God does not bring upon us. Those public officers, it seems, who have 
failed to exhibit their devotion to that mortal, are to be visited by all the 
punishment which he can inflict, in virtue of laws, the execution of which 
was committed to his hands for the public good, and not to subserve his 
private purposes. 

At the most important port of the United States, the office of collector 
was filled by Mr. Thompson, whose removal was often urged upon the late 
administration by some of its friends, upon the ground of his alleged at- 
tachment to General Jackson. But the late president was immovable in 
his resolution to deprive no man of his office, in consequence of his po- 
litical opinions or preferences. Mr. Thompson's removal was so often and 
so strongly pressed, for the reason just stated, that an inquiry was made 
of the Secretary of the Treasury, into the manner in which the duties of 
the office were discharged. The secretary stated that there was no better 
collector in the public service ; and that his returns and accounts were 
regularly and neatly rendered, and all the duties of his office ably and 
honestly performed, as he knew or believed. This meritorious officer has 
been removed to provide a place for Mr. Swartwout, whose association 
with Colonel Burr is notorious throughout the United States. I put it to 
the candor of all who are here, to say if such a change can be justified 
in the port of New York, the revenue collected at which amounts to about 
ten millions of dollars, or more than one third of the whole revenue of the 
United States. 

I will detain the present assembly no longer upon subjects connected 
with the general government. I hope that I shall find, in the future 



384 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

course of the new administration, less cause for public disapprobation. I 
most anxiously Lope, that when its measures come to be developed, at 
the next and succeeding sessions of Congress, they shall be perceived to 
be such as are best adapted to promote the prosperity of the country. I 
will say, with entire sincerity, that I shall be most happy to see it sus- 
taining the American system, including internal improvements, and up- 
holding the established policy of the government at home and abroad. 
And I shall ever be as ready to render praise where praise is due, as it 
is now painful to me, under existing circumstauces, to participate in the 
disapprobation which recent occurrences have produced. 

No occasion can be more appropriate than the present, when surrounded 
by my former constituents, to say a few words upon the unimportant sub- 
ject of myself. Prior to my return home I had stated, in auswer to all 
inquiries whether I should be again presented as a candidate to represent 
my old district in the House of Representatives, that I should come to no 
absolute decision, until I had taken time for reflection, and to ascertain 
what might be the feelings and wishes of those who had so often honored 
me with their suffrages. The present representative of the district has 
conducted himself toward me with the greatest liberality, and I take pleas- 
ure now in making my public acknowledgments, so justly due to him. 
He had promptly declined being a candidate, if I would offer, and he 
warmly urged me to offer. 

Since my return home, I have mixed freely as I could with my friends 
and fellow-citizens of the district. They have met me with the greatest 
cordiality. Many of them have expressed a wish that I would again 
represent them. Some of the most prominent and respectable of those 
who voted for the present chief magistrate, have also expressed a sim- 
ilar wish. I have every reason to believe, that there would be no oppo- 
sition to me, from any quarter or any party, if I were to offer. But if I 
am not greatly deceived in the prevailing feeling throughout the district, 
it is one more delicate and respectful toward me, and I appreciate it much 
higher, than if it had been manifested in loud calls upon me to return to 
my old post. It referred the question to my own sober judgment. My 
former constituents were generally ready to acquiesce in any decision I 
might think proper to make. If I were to offer for Congress, they were 
prepared to support me with their accustomed zeal and true-heartedness. 
I thank them all, from the very bottom of my heart, whether they agreed 
or differed with me in the late contest, for this generous confidence. 

I have deliberated much on the question. My friends, in other parts of 
the Union, are divided in opinion about the utility of any services which I 
could render, at the present period, in the national Legislature. This state 
of things, at home and abroad, left me free to follow the impulse of my 
own feelings, and the dictates of my own judgment. These prompted me 
to remain in private life. In coming to this resolution, I did not mean to 
impair the force of the obligation under which every citizen, in my opin 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 385 

ion, stood, to the last flickering of human life, to dedicate his best exertions 
to the service of the republic. I am ready to act in conformity with that 
obligation, whenever it shall be the pleasure of the people; and such a 
probability of usefulness shall exist as will justify my acceptance of any 
service which they may choose to designate. 

I have served my country now near thirty years. My constitution, never 
very vigorous, requires repose. My health, always of late years very deli- 
cate, demands care. My private affairs want my attention. Upon my 
return home, I found my house out of repair; my farm not in order, the 
fences down, the stock poor, the crop not set, and late in April the corn- 
stalks of the year's growth yet standing in the field — a sure sign of slovenly 
cultivation. 

Under all circumstances, I think that, without being liable to the reproach 
of dereliction of any public duty to my country or to my friends, I may 
continue at home for a season, if not during the remainder of my life, 
among my friends and old constituents, cheering and cheered by them, 
and interchanging all the kind and friendly offices incident to private life. 
I wished to see them all ; to shake hands cordially with them ; to inquire 
into the deaths, births, marriages, and other interesting events among 
them ; to identify myself in fact, as I am in feeling, with them, and with 
the generation which has sprung up while I have been from home, serving 
them. I wish to put my private affairs to rights, and if I can, with the 
blessing of Providence, to re-establish a shattered constitution and enfeebled 
health. 

It has been proposed to me to offer for a seat in the Legislature of the 
State. I should be proud of the selection, if I believed I could be useful 
at Frankfort. I see, I think, very clearly, the wants of Kentucky. Its 
finances are out of order, but they could be easily put straight, by a little 
moral courage, on the part of the General Assembly, and a small portion 
of candor and good will among the people. Above all, we want an efficient 
system of internal improvements adopted by the State. No Kentuckian 
who traveled in or out of it, could behold the wretched condition of our 
roads without the deepest mortification. We are greatly in the rear of 
almost all the adjacent States, some of which sprung into existence long 
after we were an established commonwealth. While they are obeying the 
spirit of the age, and nobly marching forward in the improvement of their 
respective territories, we are absolutely standing still, or rather going back- 
ward. It is scarcely credible, but nevertheless true, that it took my family, 
in the month of April, nearly four days to travel through mud and mire, a 
distance of ouly sixty-four miles, over one of the most frequented roads in 
the State. 

And yet our wants, on the subject, are perfectly within the compass of 
our means, judiciously applied. An artificial road from Maysville to the 
Tennessee line, one branch in the direction of Nashville, and a second to 
strike the mouth of Cumberland or Tennessee river ; an artificial road ex- 

25 



386 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

tending from Louisville to intersect the other, somewhere about Bowling 
Green ; one passing by Shelbyville and Frankfort, to the Cumberland gap ; 
and an artificial road extending from Frankfort to the mouth of Big Sandy ; 
compose all the leading roads which at present need the resources of the 
State. These might be constructed, partly upon the Mc Adams method, 
and partly by simply graduating and bridging them, which latter mode 
can be performed at an expense • less than one thousand dollars per mile. 
Other laterals connecting these main roads, might be left to the public spirit 
of the local authorities and of private companies. 

Congress, without doubt, would aid the State, if we did not call upon 
Hercules Avithout putting our shoulders to the wheel. But without that 
aid we could ourselves accomplish all the works which I have described. 
It would not be practicable to complete them in a period of less than seven 
or eight years, and of course not necessary to raise the whole sum requisite 
to the object in one year. Funds drawn from executed parts of the system 
might be applied to the completion of those that remained. This auxiliary 
source, combined with the ample means of the State, properly developed, 
and faithfully appropriated, would enable us to construct all the roads 
which I have sketched without burdening the people. 

But, solicitous as I feel on this interesting subject, I regret that I have 
not yet seen sufficient demonstrations of the public will to assure me that 
the judgment of the people had carried them to the same or similar con- 
clusions to which my miud has conducted me. We have been, for years 
past, unhappily greatly distracted and divided. These dissensious have 
drawn us off from a view of greater to less important concerns. They have 
excited bitter feelings and animosities, and created strong prejudices and 
jealousies. I fear that from these causes the public is not yet prepared 
dispassionately to consider and adopt a comprehensive, I think the only 
practical, system of internal improvements in this State. A premature 
effort might retard, instead of accelerating, the object. And I must add, 
that I fear extraneous causes would bias and influence the judgment of the 
Legislature. 

Upon the whole, I must decline acceding to the wishes of those who 
desired to see me in the Legislature. Retirement, unqualified retirement, 
from all public employment, is what I unaffectedly desire. I would here- 
after, if my life and health are preserved, be ready at all times to act on 
the principles I have avowed, and whenever, at a more auspicious period, 
there shall appear to be a probability of my usefulness to the Union or to 
the State, I will promptly obey any call which the people may be pleased 
to make. 

And now, my friends and fellow-citizens, I can not part from you, on 
possibly this last occasion of my ever publicly addressing you, without 
reiterating the expression of my thanks from a heart overflowing with 
gratitude. I came among you, now more than thirty years ago, an or- 
phan boy, penniless, a stranger to you all, without friends, without the favor 



BEGINNING OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 387 

of the great. You took me up, cherished me, caressed me, protected me, 
honored me. You have constantly poured upon me a hold and unabated 
stream of innumerable favors. Time, which wears out every thing, has in- 
creased and strengthened your affection for me. When I seem deserted by 
almost the whole world, and assailed by almost every tongue, and pen, and 
press, you have fearlessly and manfully stood by me, with unsurpassed zeal 
and undiminished friendship. When I felt as if I should sink beneath the 
storm of abuse and detraction, which was violently raging around me, I 
have found myself upheld and sustained by your encouraging voices, and 
your approving smiles. I have doubtless committed many faults and in- 
discretions, over which you have thrown the broad mantle of your charity. 
But I can say, and in the presence of my God and of this assembled mul- 
titude, I will say, that I have honestly and faithfully served my country ; 
that I have never wronged it ; and that, however unprepared I lament that 
I am to appear in the divine presence on other accounts, I invoke the stern 
justice of His judgment on my public conduct, without the smallest appre 
hension of His displeasure. 

Mr. Clay concluded by proposing the following toast : 

The State of Kentucky : a cordial union of all parties in favor of an effi- 
cient system of internal improvements, adapted to the wants of the State. 



EFFECT OF THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM ON THE 
STAPLES OF THE SOUTH, 

NATCHEZ, MARCH 13, 1830. 

[Mr. Clay, still in private life, on returning from New Or- 
leans, in the spring of 1830, was entertained by a public dinner 
at Natchez, at the date above given, the Hon. Edward Turner, 
Judge of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, presiding, who, 
after a complimentary speech in honor of Mr. Clay, read the 
following toast : 

" Our distinguished guest — the firm and patriotic statesman; the grandeur 
and usefulness of his political views can only be surpassed by his eloquence and 
ability in advocating them." 

To which Mr. Clay replied in substance* as follows :] 

Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens — I not only rise in gratitude for 
the favorable opinions you entertain of me, but to avail myself of an op- 
portunity to acknowledge my sense of the honors conferred upon me by 
my fellow-citizens of Mississippi. I did, indeed, expect to receive from 
them such kind attentions, as they are celebrated for extending to every 
stranger having had the satisfaction to visit them ; but it is ray pride to 
acknowledge, that those paid to me, have far, very far, exceeded my expect- 
ations ; to have received and not acknowledge how sensible I am of them, 
would seem an affectation of concealing feelings, which I ought to rejoice 
in possessing, and which justice to myself, as well as to those who bestow 
this kindness, requires of me to avow. 

Ere I landed on your shores, your welcome and congratulations came to 
meet me ; and they came too the more welcome, because I saw comming- 
ling around me, citizens, who, though at variance on political subjects, do 
not suffer their differences to interfere with the claims, which, as friends 
and as countrymen, they have on each other ; and if I have done aught 
deserving their approbation as well as their censure, believe me, in all that 
I have done, I have acted in view of the interest and happiness of our 
common country. 

* It should be observed that this speech is only a condensed statement from a 
Natchez paper 



EFFECT OF THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM ON THE SOUTH. 389 

There is nothing in life half so delightful to the heart, as to know, that, 
notwithstanding all the conflicts that arise among men, yet there comes a 
time when their passions and prejudices shall slumber, and that the stran- 
ger guest shall be cheered in seeing, that whatever differences may arise 
among them, yet there are moments when they shall cease from troubling, 
and when all that is turbulent and distrustful among them, shall be sacri- 
ficed to the generous and social dictates of their nature ; and it would be 
to me a source of great satisfaction to think, that a recollection of the 
present would act as a mediator, and soften the asperities of your divisions, 
as circumstances and events may renew them. 

The gentleman who sits at the head of this festive board, and near whose 
person your kind consideration and courtesy has placed me, Avas the com- 
panion of my early days ; and neither time nor distance have weakened 
in him the feelings which began with our youth, the strong aud bright evi- 
dences of which are shown in the narration he has given of my public serv- 
ices. But I fear that he has rather conceived me to be what his wishes 
would have me ; and that to these, more than to my own deservings, must I 
attribute his flattering notice of me. 

He then adverted to that part of Judge Turner's address which spoke 
of Mr. Clay as the decided advocate of the late war. We can not attempt 
to draw even the outlines of his observations, or to portray the feelings he 
discovered while depicting the part which Kentucky acted in the war ; of 
the volunteers she sent forth to battle, of the privations she suffered, of 
the money expended, and of the blood that flowed from her sons, in sup- 
porting the nation in the defense of her rights and independence. The 
expression of his eye, his attitude, and gestures, evinced how deeply the 
subject affected him. The people of Kentucky, he said, acted nobly 
throughout the whole contest ; and whether in defeat or in victory, she 
still showed the determination to sustain the American character, and to 
maintain American independence ; and it would be only to repeat, what was 
a common observation among the people of his State, to say, that their 
countrymen of Mississippi, acted with a spirit during the war worthy the 
best days of the Revolution. 

In speaking of the invasion of Louisiana, and of the battle of New 
Orleans, his feeling and his voice seemed to rise with the subject. The 
encomiums he passed upon the hero who had achieved the victory, though 
said in a few words, were such as might be expected from a statesman so 
great in honor, and so exalted in patriotism, as Mr. Clay. He concluded 
this part of his speech, by saying, that, although by the negotiations at 
Ghent, none of the objects for which the nation went to war, were guaran- 
tied by the treaty of peace ; yet they were secured to us by a power much 
stronger than any treaty stipulations could give : the influence of our arms, 
the resources and power of the republic, as brought forth and shown in 
the contest. 

He now spoke of the apprehensions entertained by many, that the Union 



390 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

would be dissolved ; but he considered all apprehensions of this kind, as 
arising more from our fears that such a misfortune sbould visit the coun- 
try, than from any substantial reasons to justify them. Rumors, lie said, 
had gone abroad ever since the adoption of the present Constitution, tbat 
tbe republic would be dismembered. Whenever any important question 
arose, in wbich the passions and prejudices of party, rather than the rea- 
son of the people, was brought to bear on the discussion, tbe cry would 
be heard, that tbe Union would fall in the conflict ; to-day, the disposition 
to separate would be charged on the "West ; to-morrow, against the North 
or tbe East; and then it would be returned back again to the South ; but 
as long as I have lived, said Mr. Clay, I have seen nothing to give me any 
serious fears that such an evil could befall us. First, the people were 
divided into democrats and federalists ; then we had the funding system, 
and the bank of the United States ; then came the Missouri question, and 
last the tariff. On this question my partial friend has honored me with 
the appellation of the advocate of domestic industry. I am, indeed, from 
conscientious convictions, the friend of that system of public policy, which 
has been called the American system ; and here, among those who honestly 
differ with me on this question, I would be indulged, by this magnanimous 
people, in offering a few remarks on this subject. 

It has been objected to this policy by a distinguished statesman in Con- 
gress, that our country was too extended, the lands too cheap and fertile, 
and our population too sparse to admit of the manufacturing system ; that 
our people were physically incapable of that confined degree of labor, nec- 
essary to excellence in manufactures ; but experience has surely disproved 
these positions. We are by nature inferior to no people, physically or 
mentally, and time has proved, and will continue to prove it. 

I am aware that the people of this quarter of the Union conscientiously 
believe, that the tariff bears heavily on them ; yet I feel also well assured, 
from a retrospect of the past, that if the laws on this subject were even 
more severe in their operation than I believe them to be, this patriotic 
people would endure them patiently. Yes, if the independence of the 
country, the interests, and above all, the cause of the Union required heavy 
sacrifices, they would endure them. But while claiming no immunity 
from error, I feel the most sincere, the deepest conviction, that the tariff, 
so far from having proved injurious to tbe peculiar interests of this section 
of the country, has been eminently beneficial. I ask leave to put two ques- 
tions to those interested in your great staple. I would take the common 
operations of sale and of purchase: has the operation of the tariff lowered 
the price of what you sell ? The price of every article must be regulated 
mainly by the demand: has, then, the consumption of cotton diminished 
since the tariff of 1824, or 1828 ? No, it has increased, greatly increased ; 
and why ? Because the protection extended by this policy, has created a 
new customer in the American manufacturer, who takes two hundred thou- 
sand bales, without having lessened the demand for the European market. 



EFFECT OF THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM ON THE SOUTH. 391 

British merchants have found new markets for their cotton fabrics, and 
the competition, thus created, while it has reduced the price of the manu- 
factured article, has increased the consumption of the raw material. Again, 
has the tariff increased the price of what you buy ? Take the article of 
domestic cotton, for example ; has not the American manufacturer, since 
the adoption of this system, afforded you a better article and at less price 
than before ? Take a familiar instance, one in which, having some personal 
interest, I ought to be acquainted with ; take the article manufactured in 
my own State, for the covering of your cotton bales ; take any period, say 
six years before and six years since the tariff of 1824; has the average 
price of cotton bagging increased or diminished, in that period ? I thick 
I can appeal confidently to those around me, for the reply. We afford you 
a better article than the European, and at a greatly reduced price. But, I 
am permitting myself to be carried away by the subject ; I will obtrude no 
longer on the indulgence of this generous people. I feel my inability to 
express my profound and heartfelt gratitude, for the too flattering reception 
you have given me, and for the sentiments you have been pleased to honor 
me with, an humble individual in private life. I ask permission to offer a 
sentiment : 

" The health and prosperity of the people of the State of Mississippi" 



NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS 

CINCINNATI, AUGUST 3, 1830. 

[The Bank, the American System, and Internal Improve- 
ments, are topics of the following speech ; hut Nullification is 
the principal theme. This latter was about this time a novelty 
in the political history of the country, as having just begun to 
be agitated. South Carolina statesmen had all the responsi- 
bility of first proposing it, and from that day to this they have 
taken the lead in it. Since its first proposal, the doctrine has 
branched out into a claim of the right of secession. As will be 
seen, nullification does not necessarily imply secession, though 
it may be difficult to see how the former could be carried out 
without leading to the latter. But the first idea of nullifica- 
tion was doubtless limited to the action of a State in making 
null and void a Federal law or laws, within the circle of its own 
jurisdiction, without contemplating the absolute independence 
of a secession. Seeing, however, that nullification, in its prac- 
tical operation, could hardly stop short of secession, the pro- 
pounders of the doctrine, in its first and limited signification, 
afterward came boldly up to the claim of the right of secession ; 
and that is the present (1856) aspect of the question. The 
theory of nullification, as first entertained, supposed and as- 
sumed that any State, by its legislation and courts, could nullify, 
within its own limits, such laws of the United States as its own 
authorities might adjudge to be unconstitutional, so that they 
could not be executed under its jurisdiction ; and here, perhaps, 
it was thought that nullification would stop, till the federal 
Government should repeal the obnoxious laws. But, to be re- 
lieved from the embarrassments of such a position, and to make 
thorough work, the nullifiers became secessionists, holding that 
the federal Union is a voluntary compact, which either of the 
parties could dissolve at will, in the same manner as they had 
made it. This, as will be seen, becomes a momentous question, 
so far as it is seriously entertained. Though the right of seces- 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 393 

sion had not been agitated when Mr. Clay delivered the follow- 
ing speech, he foresaw that nullification would end in that. He 
therefore treated the subject in its broadest sense, and used the 
terms nullification and secession interchangeably. The Consti- 
tution of the United States had erected a supreme tribunal, in 
the Supreme Court, to determine what was law for States as well 
as for other parties, and it was absurd to suppose that the con- 
stitutionality of a law, when a State is a party, could be decided 
anywhere else. Nor is it less absurd to suppose that one of 
thirty or more parties to the Union has a right to dissolve it. 
By the federal compact, the sovereignty of a State can never 
trespass on federal jurisdiction, any more than on the jurisdic- 
tion of a foreign State. The laws of the United States, so far 
as they extend over the jurisdiction of a State, are supreme, and 
State authority can extend no further than its own legislation 
made in conformity with this rule, the Supreme Court of the 
United States being always the judge of such conformity, as oc- 
casion may require. Federal law, therefore, has as good a title 
within the jurisdiction of the States as the State laws, and so 
much better as that the former is supreme over the latter. 
The sovereignty of the federal government, within the bounds 
of the States, is limited by the federal Constitution, and by the 
same instrument the sovereignty of the States is limited. The 
sovereignty of the States is absolute only within these prescribed 
limits. It is impossible, in the nature of the federal compact, 
that a State should seize on that part of the federal jurisdic- 
tion which lies within its own limits, which the right of seces- 
sion supposes. If the State has rights under its own jurisdiction, 
so has the federal government rights in the same place, and the 
latter are always supreme over the former. It is not possible, 
therefore, that a State should move a single inch in the line of 
secession ; much less could it nullify a law of the United States. 
To attempt either would be rebellion, and a revolution. 

This speech was delivered by Mr. Clay, at a collation made for 
him by the mechanics of Cincinnati, in response to the follow- 
ing toast : 

" Our valued guest : It is his highest eulogium, that the name of Henry Clay 
is inseparably associated with the best interests of the country, as their asserter 
and advocate."] 

Mr. President and Fellow-citizens — In rising to make the acknowl- 
edgments which are due from me, for the sentiment which has been just 
drunk, and for the honors which have been spontaneously rendered to me 



394 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

on my approach, and during my visit to this city, I feel more than ever 
the incompetency of all language adequately to express the grateful feel- 
ings of my heart. Of these distinguished honors, crowned heads them- 
selves might well be proud. They indeed possess a value far surpassing 
that of any similar testimonies which could be offered to the chief of an 
absolute government. There, they are, not unfrequently, tendered by re- 
luctant subjects, awed by a sense of terror, or impelled by a sense of ser- 
vility. Here, in this land of equal laws and equal liberty, they are pre- 
sented to a private fellow citizen, possessing neither office nor power, nor 
enjoying any rights and privileges which are not common to every mem- 
ber of the community. Power could not buy nor deter them. And, what 
confers an estimable value on them to me — what makes them alone worthy 
of you, or more acceptable to their object, is, that they are offered, not to 
the man, but to the public principles and public interests, which you are 
pleased to associate with his name. On this occasion too, they emanate 
from one of those great productive classes which form the main pillars of 
public liberty, and public prosperity. I thank you, fellow-citizens, most 
cordially, for these endearing proofs of your friendly attachment. They 
have made an impression of gratitude on my heart, which can never be 
effaced, during the residue of my life. I avail myself of this last opportu- 
nity of being present at any large collection of my fellow-citizens of Ohio, 
during my present visit, to express my respectful acknowledgments, for the 
hospitality and kindness with which I have been everywhere received and 
entertained. 

Throughout my journey, undertaken solely for private purposes, there has 
been a constant effort on my side, to repress, and, on that of my fellow- 
citizens of Ohio, to exhibit public manifestations of their affection and con- 
fidence. It has been marked by a succession of civil triumphs. I have 
been escorted from village to village, and have everywhere found myself 
surrounded by large concourses of my fellow-citizens, often of both sex§s, 
greeting and welcoming me. Nor should I do justice to my feelings, if I 
confined the expression of my obligations to those only with whom I had 
the happiness to agree, on a late public event. They are equally due to 
the candid and liberal of those from whom it was my misfortune to differ 
on that occasion, for their exercise toward me of all the rights of hospital- 
ity and neighborly courtesy. It is true, that in one or two of the towns 
through which I passed, I was informed, that attempts were made, by a few 
political zealots, to dissuade portions of my fellow-citizens from visiting and 
saluting me. These zealots seemed to apprehend, that an invading army 
was about to enter the town ; that it was necessary to sound the bells, to 
beat the drums, to point the cannon, and to make all needful preparations 
for a resolute assault, and a gallant defense. They were accordingly seen 
in the streets, and at public places, beating up for recruits, and endeavoring 
to drill their men. But I believe there were only a few who were awed 
by their threats, or seduced by their bounty, to enlist in such a cause. The 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 395 

great body of those who thought differently from me, in the instance refer- 
red to, remained firm and immovable. They could not comprehend that 
it was wrong to extend to a stranger from a neighboring State, the civilities 
which belong to social life. They could not comprehend that it was right 
to transform political differences into deadly animosities. Seeing that 
varieties in the mode of worshiping the great Ruler of the universe did 
not disturb the harmony of private intercourse, they could not comprehend 
the propriety of extending to mortal man a sacrifice which is not offered 
to our immortal Father, of all the friendly and social feelings of our nature, 
because we could not all agree as to the particular exercise of the elective 
franchise. As independent and intelligent freemen, they would not con- 
sent to submit to an arrogant usurpation which assumed the right to con- 
trol their actions, and to regulate the feelings of their hearts, and they 
scorned with indignation, to yield obedience to the mandates of would-be 
dictators. To quiet the apprehension of these zealots, I assure them, that 
I do not march at the head of any military force ; that I have neither 
horse, foot, nor dragoons, and that I travel with my friend Charles (a black 
boy, residing in my family, for whom I feel the same sort of attachment 
that I do for my own children), without sword, pistol, or musket! An- 
other species of attempted embarrassment has been practiced by an indi- 
vidual of this city. About an hour before I left my lodgings for this spot 
he caused a packet to be left in my room by a little boy, who soon made 
his exit. Upon opening it, I looked at the signature, and that was enough 
for me. It contained a long list of interrogatories, which I was required 
publicly to answer. I read only one or two of them. There are some 
men whose contact is pollution. I can recognize no right in the person in 
question to catechize me. I can have no intercourse with one who is a 
disgrace to the gallant and generous nation from which he sprang. I can 
not stoop to be thus interrogated by a man whose nomination to a paltry 
office, was rejected by nearly the unanimous vote of the Senate ; I must be 
excused if, when addressing my friends, the mechanics of Cincinnati, I will 
not speak from his notes. On the renewal of the charter of the present 
bank of the United States, which I believe formed the subject of one or 
two of these interrogatories, I will say a few words for your, not his sake. 
I will observe, in the first place, that I am not in favor of such a bank as 
was recommended in the message of the president of the United States, at 
the commencement of the last session of Congress ; that, with the commit- 
tee of the two Houses, I concur in thinking it would be an institution of a 
dangerous and alarming character ; and that fraught as it would be with 
the most corrupting tendencies, it might be made powerfully instrumental 
in overturning our liberties. As to the existing bank, I think it has been 
generally administered, and particularly of late years, with great ability and 
integrity ; that it has fulfilled all the reasonable expectations of those who 
constituted it ; and, with the same committees, I think it has made an ap- 
proximation toward the equalization of the currency, as great as is practi- 



396 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

cable. Whether the charter ought to be renewed or not, near six years 
hence, in my judgment, is a question of expediency to be decided by the 
then existing state of the country. It will be necessary at that time, to 
look carefully at the condition both of the bank and of tha Union. To as- 
certain, if the public debt shall, in the mean time, be paid off, what effect 
that will produce ? What will be our then financial condition ? what that 
of local banks, the state of our commerce, foreign and domestic, as well as 
the concerns of our currency generally ? I am, therefore, not now prepared 
to say, whether the charter ought, or ought not, to be renewed on the ex- 
piration of its present term. The bank may become insolvent, and may 
hereafter forfeit all pretensions to a renewal. The question is premature. 
I may not be alive to form any opinion upon it. It belongs to posterity, 
and if they would have the goodness to decide for us some of the perplex- 
ing and practical questions of the present day, we might be disposed to de- 
cide that remote question for them. As it is, it ought to be indefinitely 
postponed. 

With respect to the American system, which demands your undivided 
approbation, and in regard to which you are pleased to estimate much too 
highly my service, its great object is to secure the independence of our 
country, to augment its wealth, and to diffuse the comforts of civilization 
throughout society. That object, it has been supposed, can be best ac- 
complished by introducing, encouraging, and protecting the arts among us. 
It may be called a system of real reciprocity, under the operation of which 
one citizen or one part of the country, can exchange one description of the 
produce of labor, with another citizen or another part of the country, for a 
different description of the produce of labor. It is a system which de- 
velops, improves, and perfects the capabilities of our common country, and 
enables us to avail ourselves of all the resources with which Providence 
has blessed us. To the laboring classes it is invaluable, since it increases and 
multiplies the demands for their industry, and gives them an option of 
employments. It adds power and strength to our Union, by new ties of 
interest, blending and connecting together all its parts, and creating an in- 
terest with each in the prosperity of the whole. It secures to our own 
country, whose skill and enterprise, properly fostered and sustained, can 
not be surpassed, those vast profits which are made in other countries by 
the operation of converting the raw material into manufactured articles. 
It naturalizes, and creates within the bosom of our country all the arts ; 
and, mixing the farmer, manufacturer, mechanic, artist, and those engaged 
in other vocations together, admits of those mutual exchanges, so condu- 
cive to the prosperity of all and every one, free from the perils of sea and 
war : all this it effects, while it nourishes and leaves a fair scope to foreign 
trade. Suppose we were a nation that clad ourselves, and made all the 
implements necessary to civilization, but did not produce our own bread, 
which we brought from foreign countries, although our own was capable 
of producing it, under the influence of suitable laws of protection, ought 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 397 

not such laws to he enacted ? The case supposed is not essentially dif- 
ferent from the real state of things which led to the adoption of the Amer- 
ican system. 

That system has had a wonderful success. It has more than realized all 
the hopes of its founders. It has completely falsified all the predictions of 
its opponents. It has increased the wealth, and power, and population of 
the nation. It has diminished the price of articles of consumption, and 
has placed them within the reach of a far greater number of our people 
than could have found means to command them, if they had been manu- 
factured abroad instead of at home. 

But it is useless to dwell on the argument in support of this beneficent 
system before this audience. It will be of more consequence here to ex- 
amine some of the objections which are still urged against it, and the 
means which are proposed to subvert it. These objections are now prin- 
cipally confined to its operation upon the great staple of cotton avooI, and 
they are urged with most vehemence in a particular State. If the objec- 
tions are well founded, the system should be modified, as far as it can con- 
sistently with interest, in other parts of the Union. If they are not well 
founded, it is to be hoped they will be finally abandoned. 

In approaching the subject, I have thought it of importance to inquire 
what was the profit made upon capital employed in the culture of cotton, at 
its present reduced price ? The result has been information that it nets from 
seven to eighteen per cent, per annum, varying according to the advantage 
of situation, and the degree of skill, judgment, and industry, applied to the 
production of the article. But the lowest rate of profit, in the scale, is 
more than the greatest amount which is made on capital employed in the 
farming portions of the Union. 

If the cotton planter has any just complaint against the expediency of 
the American system, it must be founded on the fact that he either sells less 
of his staple, or sells at lower prices, or purchases for consumption articles 
at dearer rates, or of worse qualities, in consequence of that system, than 
he would do if it did not exist. If he would neither sell more of his 
staple, nor sell it at better prices, nor could purchase better or cheaper ar- 
ticles for consumption, provided the system did not exist, then he has no 
cause, on the score of burdensome operation, to complain of the system, 
but must look to other sources for the grievances which he supposes afflict 
him. 

As respects the sale of his staple, it would be indifferent to the planter, 
whether one portion of it was sold in Europe, and the other in America, 
provided the aggregate of both were equal to all that he could sell in one 
market, if he had but one, and provided he could command the same price 
in both cases. The double market would indeed be something better for 
him, because of its greater security in time of war as well as in peace, and 
because it would be attended with less perils and less charges. If there be 
an equal amount of the raw material manufactured, it must be immaterial to 



398 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the cotton planter, in the sale of the article, whether there be two theaters 
of the manufacture, one in Europe and the other in America, or but one 
in Europe ; or if there be a difference, it will be in favor of the two places 
of manufacture, instead of one, for reasons already assigned, and others that 
will be hereafter stated. 

It could be of no advantage to the cotton planter, if all the cotton now 
manufactured both in Europe and America, was manufactured exclusively 
in Europe, and an amount of cotton fabrics should be brought back from 
Europe, equal to both what is now brought from there, and what is manu- 
factured in the United States, together. While he would gain nothing, 
the United States would lose the profit and employment resulting from the 
manufacture of that portion which is now wrought up by the manufac- 
turers of the United States. 

Unless, therefore, it can be shown, that, by the reduction of import 
duties, and the overthrow of the American system, and by limiting the 
manufacture of cotton to Europe, a greater amount of the raw material 
would be consumed than is at present, it is difficult to see what interest, so 
far as respects the sale of that staple, the cotton planter has in the sub- 
version of that system. If a reduction of duties would admit of larger 
investments in British or European fabrics of cotton, and their subsequent 
importation into this country, this additional supply would take the place, 
if consumed, of an equal amount of American manufactures, and conse- 
quently would not augment the general consumption of the raw material. 
Additional importation does not necessarily imply increased consumption, 
especially when it is effected by a policy which would impair the ability 
to purchase and consume. 

Upon the supposition just made, of a restriction to Europe of the man- 
ufacture of cotton, would more or less of the article be consumed than 
now is ? More could not be, unless, in consequence of such a monopoly 
of the manufacture, Europe could sell more than she now does. But to 
what countries could she sell more ? She gets the raw material now un- 
burdened by any duties except such moderate ones as her policy, not likely 
to be changed, imposes. She is enabled thereby to sell as much of the 
manufactured article as she can find markets for in the States within her 
own limits, or in foreign countries. The destruction of the American 
manufacture would not induce her to sell cheaper, but might enable her to 
sell dearer, than she now does. The ability of those foreign countries, to 
purchase and consume, would not be increased by the annihilation of our 
manufactures, and the monopoly of European manufacture. The proba- 
bility is, that those foreign countries, by the fact of that monopoly, and 
some consequent increase of price, would be worse and dearer supplied 
than they now are, under the operation of a competition between America 
and Europe in their supply. 

At most, the United States, after the transfer from their territory to 
Europe, of the entire manufacture of the article, could not consume, of 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHEK TOPICS. 399 

European fabrics from cotton, a greater amount than they now derive from 
Europe, and from manufactures within their own limits. 

But it is confidently believed, that the consumption of cotton fabrics, on 
the supposition which has been made, within the United States, would be 
much less than it is at present. It would be less, because the American 
consumer would not possess the means or ability to purchase as much of 
the European fabric as he now does to buy the American. Europe pur- 
chases but little of the produce of the northern, middle, and western re- 
gions of the United States. The staple productions of those regions are 
excluded from her consumption by her policy, or by her native supplies of 
similar productions. The effect, therefore, of obliging the inhabitants of 
those regions to depend upon the cotton manufactures of Europe for 
necessary supplies of the article, would be alike injurious to them, and to 
the cotton grower. They would suffer from their inability to supply their 
wants, and there would be a consequent diminution of the consumption 
of cotton. By the location of the manufacture in the United States, the 
quantity of cotton consumed is increased, and the more numerous portion 
of their inhabitants, who would not be otherwise sufficiently supplied, are 
abundantly served. That this is the true state of things, I think can not 
be doubted by any reflecting and unprejudiced man. The establishment 
of manufactures within the United States, enables the manufacturer to sell 
to the farmer, the mechanic, the physician, the lawyer, and all who are 
engaged in other pursuits of life ; and these, in their turns, supply the 
manufacturer with subsistence, and whatever else his wants require. 
Under the influence of the protecting policy, many new towns have been 
built, and old ones enlarged. The population of these places draw their 
subsistence frem the farming interest of our country, their fuel from our 
forests and coal mines, and the raw materials from which they fashion and 
fabricate, from the cotton planter and the mines of our country. These 
mutual exchanges, so animating and invigorating to the industry of 
the people of the United States, could not possibly be effected be- 
tween America and Europe, if the latter enjoyed the monopoly of man- 
ufacturing. 

It results, therefore, that, so far as the sale of the great southern staple 
is concerned, a greater quantity is sold and consumed, and consequently 
better prices are obtained, under the operation of the American system, 
than would be without it. Does that system oblige the cotton planter to 
buy dearer or worse articles of consumption than he could purchase, if it 
did not exist ? 

The same course of American and European competition, which enables 
him to sell more of the produce of his industry, and at better prices, also 
enables him to buy cheaper and better articles for consumption. It can 
not be doubted, that the tendency of the competition between the Euro- 
pean and American manufacturer, is to reduce the price and improve the 
quality of their respective fabrics, whenever they come into collision. 



400 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

This is the immutable law of all competition. If the American manufac- 
ture were discontinued, Europe would then exclusively furnish those sup- 
plies which are now derived from the establishments in both continents ; 
and the first consequence would be, an augmentation of the demand, be- 
yond the supply, equal to what is now manufactured in the United States, 
but which, in the contingency supposed, would be wrought in Europe. If 
the destruction of the American manufactures were sudden, there would be 
a sudden and probably a considerable rise in the European fabrics. Al- 
though, in the end, they might be again reduced, it is not likely that the 
ultimate reduction of the prices would be to such rates as if both the 
workshops of America and Europe remained sources of supply. There 
would also be a sudden reductiou in the price of the raw material, in con- 
sequence of the cessation of American demand. Aud this reduction would 
be permanent, if the supposition be correct, that there would be a diminu- 
tion in the consumption of cotton fabrics, arising out of the inability, on 
the part of large portions of the people of the United States, to purchase 
those of Europe. 

That the effect of competition between the European and American man- 
ufacture, has been to supply the American consumer with cheaper and 
better articles, since the adoption of the American system, notwithstanding 
the existence of causes which have obstructed its fair operation, and re- 
tarded its full development, is incontestable. Both the freeman and the 
slave are now better and cheaper supplied than they were prior to the ex- 
istence of that system. Cotton fabrics have diminished in price, and been 
improved in their texture, to an extent that it is difficult for the imagination 
to keep pace with. Those partly of cotton and partly of wool are also bet- 
ter and cheaper supplied. The same observation is applicable to those 
which are exclusively wrought of wool, iron, or glass. In short, it is be- 
lieved that there is not one item of the tariff inserted for the protection of 
native industry, which has not fallen in price. The American competi- 
tion has tended to keep down the European rival fabric, and the European 
has tended to lower the American. 

Of what then can the South Carolina planter justly complain in the 
operation of this system ? What is there in it which justifies the harsh 
and strong epithets which some of her politicians have applied to it ? 
What is there in her condition, which warrants their assertion, that she is 
oppressed by a government to which she stands in the mere relation of a 
colony ? 

She is oppressed by a great reduction in the price of manufactured ar- 
ticles of consumption. 

She is oppressed by the advantage of two markets for the sale of her 
valuable staple, and for the purchase of objects required by her wants. 

She is oppressed by better prices for that staple than she could com- 
mand, if the system to which they object did not exist. 

She is oppressed by the option of purchasing cheaper and better articles, 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 401 

the produce of the hands of American freemen, instead of dearer and 
worse articles, the produce of the hands of British subjects. 

She is oppressed by the measures of a government in which she has had, 
for many years, a larger proportion of power and influence, at home and 
abroad, than any State in the whole Union, in comparison with the popu- 
lation. 

A glance at the composition of the government of the Union, will dem- 
onstrate the truth of this last proposition. In the Senate of the United 
States, South Carolina having the presiding officer, exercises nearly one 
sixteenth instead of one twenty-fourth part of both its legislative and ex- 
ecutive functions. 

In both branches of Congress, some of her citizens now occupy, as 
chairmen of committees, the most important and influential stations. In 
the Supreme Court of the United States, one of her citizens being a mem- 
ber, she has one seventh part, instead of about one twentieth, her equal 
proportion of the whole power vested in that tribunal. Until within a few 
months, she had nearly one third of all the missions of the first grade, from 
this to foreign countries. In a contingency, which is far from impossible, 
a citizen of South Carolina would instantly become charged with the ad- 
ministration of the whole of the vast power and patronage of the United 
States. 

Yet her situation has been compared to that of a colony which has no 
voice in the laws enacted by the parent country for its subjection ! And 
to be relieved from this cruel state of vassalage, and to put down a sys- 
tem which has been established by the united voice of all America, some 
of her politicians have broached a doctrine as new as it would be alarm- 
ing, if it were sustained by numbers in proportion to the zeal and fervid 
eloquence with which it is inculcated. I call it a novel doctrine. I am 
not unaware that attempts have been made to support it on the authority 
of certain acts of my native and adopted States. Although many of their 
citizens are much more competent than I am to vindicate them from this 
imputation of purposes of disunion and rebellion, my veneration and af- 
fection for them both urge me to bear my testimony of their innocence of 
such a charge. At the epoch of 1*798-9, 1 had just attained my majority, 
and although I was too young to share in the public councils of my coun- 
try, I was acquainted with many of the actors of that memorable period ; 
I knew their views, and formed and freely expressed my own opinions on 
passing events. The then administration of the general government was 
believed to entertain views (whether the belief was right or wrong is not 
material to this argument, and is now an affair of history) hostile to the 
existence of the liberties of this country. The alien and sedition laws, 
particularly, and other measures, were thought to be the consequences and 
proofs of those views. If the administration had such a purpose, it was 
feared that the extreme case, justifying forcible resistance, might arise, but 
no one believed that, in point of fact, it had arrived. No one contended 

26 



402 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that a single State possessed the power to annul the deliberate acts of the 
whole. And the best evidence of these remarks is the fact, that the most 
odious of those laws (the sedition act), was peaceably enforced in the cap- 
ital of that great State which took the lead in opposition to the existing 
administration. 

The doctrines of that day, and they are as true at this, were, that the 
federal government is a limited government ; that it has no powers, but 
the granted powers. Virginia contended, that in case " of a palpable, 
deliberate, and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by said 
compact, the States, who are parties thereto, have the right to interpose 
for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their re- 
spective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties, appertaining to them." 
Kentucky declared, that the " several States, that framed that instrument, 
the federal Constitution, being sovereign and independent, have the un- 
questionable right to judge of its instructions, and a nullification by those 
sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts, done under color of that instrument, 
is the rightful remedy." 

Neither of these two commonwealths asserted the right of a single State 
to interpose and annul an act of the whole. This is an inference drawn 
from the doctrines then laid down, and it is not a principle expressly as- 
serted or fairly deducible from the language of either. Both refer to the 
States collectively (and not individually), when they assert their right, in 
case of federal usurpation, to interpose " for arresting the progress of evil." 
Neither State ever did, no State ever yet has, by its separate legislation, un- 
dertaken to set aside an act of Congress. 

That the States collectively may interpose their authority to check the 
evils of federal • usurpation, is manifest. They may dissolve the Union. 
They may alter, at pleasure, the character of the Constitution, by amend- 
ment ; they may annul any acts purporting to have been passed in con- 
formity to it, or they may, by their elections, change the functionaries to 
whom the administration of its powers is confided. But no one State, by 
itself, is competent to accomplish these objects. The power of a single 
State to annul an act of the whole, has been reserved for the discovery of 
some politicians in South Carolina. 

It is not my purpose, upon an occasion so unfit, to discuss this preten- 
sion. Upon another and a more suitable theater, it has been examined 
and refuted, with an ability and eloquence which have never been sur- 
passed on the floor of Congress. But, as it is announced to be one of the 
means which is intended to be employed to break down the American sys- 
tem, I trust that I shall be excused for a few additional passing observa- 
tions. On a late festive occasion, in the State where it appears to find 
most favor, it is said, by a gentleman whom I once proudly called my 
friend, and toward whom I have done nothing to change that relation — 
a gentleman who has been high in the councils and confidence of the 
nation, that the tariff must be resisted at all hazards. Another gentleman, 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 403 

who is a candidate for the chief magistracy of that State, declares that the 
time and the case for resistance had arrived. And a third, a senator of 
the United States, who enjoys unbounded confidence with the American 
executive, laid down principles aud urged arguments tending directly and 
inevitably to violent resistance, although he did not indicate that as his 
specific remedy. 

The doctrine of some of the South Carolina politicians is, that it is com- 
petent to that State to annul, within its limits, the authority of an act 
deliberately passed by the Congress of the United States. They do not 
appear to have looked much beyond the simple act of nullification, into 
the consequences which would ensue, and have not distinctly announced, 
whether one of them might not necessarily be, to light up a. civil war. 
They seem, however, to sirppose, that the State might, after the act was 
performed, remain a member of the Union. Now if one State can, by an 
act of its separate power, absolve itself from the obligations of a law of 
Congress, and continue a part of the Union, it could hardly be expected, 
that any other State would render obedience to the same law. Either 
every other State would follow the nullifying example, or Congress would 
feel itself constrained, by a sense of equal duty to all parts of the Union, 
to repeal altogether the nullified law. Thus, the doctrine of South Car- 
olina, although it nominally assumes to act for one State only, in effect, 
would be leoislatino- for the whole Union. 

Congress embodies the collective will of the whole Union, and that of 
South Carolina among its other members. The legislation of Congress is, 
therefore, founded upon the basis of the representation of all. In the 
Legislature, or a convention of South Carolina, the will of the people of 
that State is alone collected. They alone are represented, and the people 
of no other State have any voice in their proceedings. To set up for that 
a claim, by a separate exercise of its power, to legislate, in effect, for the 
whole Union, is to assert a pretension at war with the fundamental prin- 
ciples of all representative and free governments. It would practically 
subject the unrepresented people of all other parts of the Union to the 
arbitrary and despotic power of one State. It would substantially convert 
them into colonies, bound by the parental authority of that State. 

Nor can this enormous pretension derive any support from the considera- 
tion, that the power to annul, is different from the power to originate laws. 
Both powers are, in their nature, legislative ; and the mischiefs which 
might accrue to the republic from the annulment of its wholesome laws, 
may be just as great as those which would flow from the origination of 
bad laws. There are three things to which, more than all others, man- 
kind in all ages, have shown themselves to be attached, their religion, their 
laws, and their language. 

But it has been argued, in the most solemn manner, " that the acknowl- 
edgments of the exclusive right of the federal government to determine 
the limits of its own powers, amounts to a recognition of the absolute 



404 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

supremacy over the States and the people, and involves the sacrifice not 
only of our dearest rights and interests, but the very existence of the 
southern States. 

In cases where there are two systems of government, operating at the 
same time and place, over the same people, the one general, the other local 
or particular, one system or the other must possess the right to decide upon 
the extent of the powers, in cases of collision, which are claimed by the 
general government. No third party, of sufficient impartiality, weight, 
and responsibility, other than such a tribunal as a Supreme Court, has yet 
been devised, or perhaps can be created. 

The doctrine of one side is, that the general government, though limited 
in its nature, must necessarily possess the power to ascertain what authority 
it has, and, by consequence, the extent of that authority. And that, if its 
legislative oi. executive functionaries, by act, transcend that authority, the 
question may be brought before the Supreme Court, and, being affirmatively 
decided by that tribunal, their act must be obeyed until repealed or altered 
by competent power. 

Against the tendency of this doctrine to absorb all power, those who 
maintain it think there are reasonable, and, they hope, sufficient securities. 
In the first place, all are represented in every legislative or executive act, 
and, of course, each State can exert its proper influence, to prevent the 
adoption of any that may be deemed prejudicial or unconstitutional. Then, 
there are sacred oaths, elections, public virtue and intelligence, the power 
of impeachment, a common subjection to both systems of those functiona- 
ries who act under either, the right of the States to interpose and amend 
the Constitution, or to dissolve the Union ; and, finally, the right, in ex- 
treme cases, when all other remedies fail, to resist insupportable op- 
pression. 

The necessity being felt, by the framers of the Constitution, to declare 
which system should be supreme, and believing that the securities now 
enumerated, or some of them, were adequate, they have accordingly pro- 
vided, that the Constitution of the United States, and the laws made in 
pursuance of it, and all treaties made under the authority of the United 
States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and that the judicial power 
6hall extend to all cases arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties, of 
the United States. 

The South Carolina doctrine, on the other side, is, that that State has 
the right to determine the limits of the powers granted to the general 
government ; and that whenever any of its acts transcend those limits, in 
the opinion of the State of South Carolina, she is competent to annul 
them. If the power, with which the federal government is invested by 
the Constitution, to determine the limits of its authority, be liable to the 
possible danger of ultimate consolidation, and all the safeguards which 
have been mentioned might prove inadequate, is not this power, claimed 
for South Carolina, fraught with infinitely more certain, immediate, and 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 405 

fatal danger ? It would reverse the rule of supremacy prescribed in the 
Constitution. It would render the authority of a single State paramount 
to that of the whole Union. For, undoubtedly, that government, to some 
extent, must be supreme, which can annul and set aside the acts of 
another. 

The securities which the people of other parts of the United States 
possess against the abuse of this tremendous power claimed for South 
Carolina, will be found, on comparison, to be greatly inferior to those which 
she has against the possible abuses of the general government. They have 
no voice in her councils ; they could not, by the exercise of the elective 
franchise, change her rulers; they could not impeach her judges, they 
could not alter her Constitution, nor abolish her government. 

Under the South Carolina doctrine, if established, the consequence would 
be a dissolution of the Union, immediate, inevitable, irresistible. There 
would be twenty-four chances to one against its continued existence. The 
apprehended dangers of the opposite doctrine, remote, contingent, and 
hardly possible, are greatly exaggerated ; and, against their realization, all 
the precautions have been provided, which human wisdom and patriotic 
foresight could conceive and devise. 

Those who are opposed to the supremacy of the Constitution, laws, and 
treaties of the United States, are adverse to all union, whatever contrary 
professions they may make. For it may be truly affirmed, that no con- 
federacy of States can exist without a power, somewhere residing in the 
government of that confederacy, to determine the extent of the authority 
granted to it by the confederating States. 

It is admitted that the South Carolina doctrine is liable to abuse ; but it 
is contended that the patriotism of each State is an adequate security, and 
that the nullifying power would only be exercised "in an extraordinary 
case, where the powers reserved to the States, under the Constitution, are 
usurped by the federal government." And is not the patriotism of all the 
States as great a safeguard against the assumption of powers, not conferred 
upon the general government, as the patriotism of one State is against the 
denial of powers which are clearly granted ? But the nullifying power is 
only to be exercised in an extraordinary case. Who is to judge of this 
extraordinary case ? What security is there, especially in moments of 
great excitement, that a State may not pronounce the plainest and most 
common exercise of federal power an extraordinary case ? The expressions 
in the Constitution, "general welfare," have been often justly criticised, and 
shown to convey, in themselves, no power, although they may indicate 
how the delegated power should be exercised. But this doctrine of an 
extraordinary case, to be judged of and applied by one of the twenty-four 
sovereignties, is replete with infinitely more danger, than the doctrine of 
the " general welfare" in the hands of all. 

We may form some idea of future abuses under the South Carolina 
doctrine, by the application which is now proposed to be made of it. The 



406 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

American system is said to furnish an extraordinary case, justifying that 
State to nullify it. The power to regulate foreign commerce by a tariff, so 
adjusted as to foster our domestic manufactures, has been exercised from 
the commencement of our present Constitution down to the last session 
of Congress. I have been a member of the House of Representatives at 
three different periods, when the subject of the tariff was debated at great r 
length, and on neither, according to my recollection, was the want of a 
constitutional power in Congress, to enact it, dwelt on as forming a serious 
and substantial objection to its passage. On the last occasion (I think it 
was) in which I participated in the debate, it was incidentally said to be 
against the spirit of the Constitution. AVhile the authority of the father 
of the Constitution is invoked to sanction, by a perversion of his meaning, 
principles of disunion and rebellion, it is rejected to sustain the contro- 
verted power, although his testimony in support of it has been clearly and 
explicitly rendered. This power, thus asserted, exercised, and maintained, 
in favor of which leading politicians in South Carolina have themselves 
voted, is alleged to furnish " an extraordinary case," where the powers re- 
served to the States, under the Constitution, are usurped by the general 
government. If it be, there is scarcely a statute in our code which would 
not present a case equally extraordinary, justifying South Carolina or any 
other State to nullify it. 

The United States are not only threatened with the nullification of nu- 
merous acts, which they have deliberately passed, but with a withdrawal 
of one of the members from the confederacy. If the unhappy case should 
ever occur, of a State being really desirous to separate itself from the 
Union, it would present two questions. The first would be, whether it had 
a right to withdraw, without the common consent of the members; and, 
supposing, as I believe, no such right to exist, whether it would be expedient 
to yield conseut. Although there may be power to prevent a secession, it 
might be deemed politic to allow it. It might be considered expedient to 
permit the refractory State to take the portion of goods that falleth to her, 
to suffer her to gather her all together, and to go off with her living. But, 
if a State should be willing, and allowed thus to depart, and to renounce her 
future portion of the inheritance of this great, glorious, and prosperous re- 
public, she would speedily return, and, in language of repentance, say to 
the other members of this Union, " Brethren, I have sinned against heaven 
and before thee." Whether they would kill the fatted calf, and, chiding 
any containing member of the family, say, "This thy sister was dead, and 
is alive again; and was lost, and is found," I sincerely pray the historian 
may never have occasion to record. 

But nullification and disunion are not the only nor the most formidable 
means of assailing the tariff. Its opponents opened the campaign at the 
last session of Congress, and, with the most obliging frankness, have since 
publicly exposed their plan of operations. It is, to divide and conquer ; 
to attack and subdue the system in detail. They began by reducing the 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 407 

duty on salt and molasses, and, restoring the drawback of the duty on the 
latter article, allowed the exportation of spirits distilled from it. To all 
who are interested in the distillation of spirits from native materials^ 
whether fruit, molasses, or grain, this latter measure is particularly inju- 
rious. During the administration of Mr. Adams, the duty on foreign mo- 
lasses was augmented, and the drawback, which had been previously al- 
lowed of the duty upon the exportation of spirits distilled from it, was 
repealed. The object was to favor native produce, and to lessen the compe 
tition of foreign spirits, or spirits distilled from foreign materials, with spirits 
distilled from domestic materials. It was deemed to be especially advanta- 
geous to the western country, a great part of whose grain can only find 
markets at home and abroad by being converted into distilled spirits. 
Encouraged by this partial success, the foes of the tariff may next attempt 
to reduce the duties on iron, woolens, and cotton fabrics, successively. 
The American system of protection should be regarded, as it is, an entire 
and comprehensive system, made up of various items, and aiming at the 
prosperity of the whole Union, by protecting the interests of each part. 
Every part, therefore, has a direct interest in the protection which it enjoys 
of the articles which its agriculture produces, or its manufactories fabri- 
cate, and also a collateral interest in the protection which other portions 
of the Union derive from their peculiar interests. Thus, the aggregate 
of the prosperity of all is constituted by the sums of the prosperity of each. 

Take any one article of the tariff (iron, for example), and there is no 
such direct interest in its protection, pervading the major part of the 
United States, as would induce Congress to encourage it, if it stood alone. 
The States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Kentucky, which 
are most concerned, are encouraged in the production or manufacture of 
this article, in consequence of the adoption of a general principle, which 
extends protection to other interests in other parts of the Union. 

The stratagem which has been adopted by the foes of the system, to de- 
stroy it, requires the exercise of constant vigilance and firmness, to prevent 
the accomplishment of the object. They have resolved to divide and con- 
quer — the friends of the system should assume the revolutionury motto of 
our ancestors, "united we stand, divided we fall." They should allow no 
alteration in any part of the system, as it now exists, which did not aim at 
rendering more efficacious the system of protection, on which the whole is 
founded. Every one should reflect, that it is not equal, to have a particu- 
lar interest which he is desirous should be fostered, in his part of the 
country, protected against foreign competition, without his being willing to 
extend the principle to other interests, deserving protection, in other parts 
of the Union. 

But the measure of reducing the duty on salt and molasses, and reviving 
the drawback on the importation of spirits distilled from molasses, was an 
attack on the system, less alarming than another which was made during 
the last session of Congress, ou a kindred system. 



408 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

If any thing could be considered as settled, under the present Constitu- 
tion of our government, I had supposed that it was its authority to con- 
struct such internal improvements as may be deemed by Congress neces- 
sary and proper to carry into effect the power granted to it. For nearly 
twenty -five years, the power has been asserted and exercised by the gov- 
ernment. For the last fifteen years it has been often controverted in Con- 
gress, but it has been invariably maintained, in that body, by repeated de- 
cisions, pronounced after full and elaborate debate, and at intervals of time 
implying the greatest deliberation. Numerous laws attest the existence 
of the power ; and no less than twenty-odd laws have been passed in rela- 
tion to a single work. This power, necessary to all parts of the Union, is 
indispensable to the West. Without it, this section can never enjoy any 
part of the benefit of a regular disbursement of the vast revenues of the 
United States. I recollect perfectly well, that, at the last great struggle 
for the power, in 1824, Mr. P. P. Barbour, of Virginia, the principal cham- 
pion against it, observed to me, that if it were affirmed on that occasion 
(Mr. Hemphill's survey bill), he should consider the question settled. And 
it was affirmed. 

Yet we are told that this power can no longer be exercised without an 
amendment of the Constitution. On the occasion in South Carolina, to 
which I have already adverted, it was said, that the tariff and internal im- 
provements are intimately connected, and that the death-blow which it 
was hoped the one had received, will finally destroy the other. I concur in 
the opinion, that they are intimately, if not indissolubly, united. Not con- 
nected together, with the fraudulent intent which has been imputed, but 
by their nature, by the tendency of each to advance the objects of the 
other, and of both to augment the sum of national prosperity. 

If I could believe that the executive message, which was communicated 
to Congress upon the application of the veto to the Maysville road, really 
expressed the opinion of the President of the United States, in consequence 
of the unfortunate relations which have existed between us, I would for- 
bear to make any observation upon it. It has his name affixed to it ; but 
it is not every paper which bears the name of a distinguished personage, 
that is his, or expresses his opinions. We have been lately informed, that 
the unhappy king of England, in perhaps his last illness, transmitted a 
paper to Parliament, with his royal signature attached to it, which became 
an object of great 'curiosity. Can any one believe, that that paper convey- 
ed any other sentiments than those of his majesty's ministers ? It is im- 
possible, that the veto message should express the opinions of the president, 
and I prove it by evidence derived from himself. Not forty days before 
that message was sent to Congress, he approved a bill embracing appro- 
priations to various objects of internal improvement, and among others, to 
improve the navigation of Conneaut creek. Although somewhat acquaint- 
ed with the geography of our country, I declare, I did not know of the ex- 
istence of such a stream until I read the bill. I have since made it an 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 409 

object of inquiry, and Lave been told, that it rises in one comer of Penn- 
sylvania, and is discharged into Lake Erie, in a corner of the State of Ohio; 
and that the utmost extent to Avhich its naviga'.ion is susceptible of im- 
provement, is about seven miles. Is it possible that the president could 
conceive that a national object, and that the improvement of a great 
thoroughfare, on which the mail is transported for some eight or ten 
States and Territories, is not a national consideration ? The power to im- 
prove the navigation of watercourses, nowhere expressly recognized in the 
Constitution, is infinitely more doubtful than the establishment of mail 
roads, which is explicitly authorized in that instrument ! Did not the 
president, during the canvass which preceded his election, in his answer to 
a letter from Governor Ray, of Indiana, written at the instance of the 
Senate of that respectable State, expressly refer to his votes given in the 
Senate of the United States, for his opinion as to the power of the general 
government, and inform him that his opinion remained unaltered ? And 
do we not find, upon consulting the journals of the Senate, that amoug 
other votes affirming the existence of the power, he voted for an appropri- 
ation to the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, which is only about fourteen 
miles in extent ? And do we not know, that it was at that time, like the 
Maysville road now, in progress of execution under the direction of a com- 
pany incorporated by a State ? And that, while the Maysville road had a 
connection with roads east of Maysville and south-west of Lexington, the 
turnpiking of which was contemplated, that canal had no connection with 
any other existing canal ? 

The veto message is perfectly irreconcilable with the previous acts, votes, 
and opinions, of General Jackson. It does not express his opinions, but 
those of his advisers and counselors, and especially those of his cabinet. 
If we look at the composition of that cabinet, we can not doubt it. Three 
of the five, who, I believe, compose it (whether the postmaster-general be 
one or not, I do not know), are known to be directly and positively op- 
posed to the power ; a fourth, to use a term descriptive of the favorite 
policy of one of them, is a non-committal, and as to the fifth, good Lord 
deliver us from such friendship as his to internal improvements ! Further, 
I have heard it from good authority (but I will not vouch for it, although 
I believe it to be true), that some of the gentlemen from the South waited 
upon the president, while he held the Maysville bill under consideration, 
and told him if he approved of that bill, the South would no longer ap- 
prove of him, but oppose his administration. 

I can not, therefore, consider the message as conveying the sentiments 
and views of the president. It is impossible. It is the work of his cab- 
inet ; and if, unfortunately, they were not practically irresponsible to the 
people of the United States, they would deserve severe animadversion for 
having prevailed upon the president, in the precipitation of business, and 
perhaps without his spectacles, to put his name to such a paper, and send 
it forth to Congress and to the nation. Why, I have read that paper again 



410 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

and again ; and I never can peruse it without thinking of diplomacy, and 
the name of Talleyrand, Talleyrand, Talleyrand, perpetually recurring. It 
seems to have heen written in the spirit of an accommodating soul, who, 
being determined to have fair weather in any contingency, was equally 
ready to cry out, good Lord, good devil. Are you for internal improve- 
ments ? you may extract from the message texts enough to support your 
opinion. Are you against them ? the message supplies you with abundant 
authority to countenance your views. Do you think that a long and un- 
interrupted current of concurring decisions ought to settle the question of 
a controverted power ? so the authors of the message affect to be- 
lieve. But ought any precedents, however numerous, to be allowed 
to establish a doubtful power ? the message agrees with him who thinks 
not. 

I can not read this singular document without thinking of Talleyrand. 
That remarkable person was one of the most eminent and fortunate men 
of the French Revolution. Prior to its commencement, he held a bishop- 
ric under the ill-fated Louis the Sixteenth. When that great political 
storm showed itself above the horizon, he saw which way the wind was 
going to blow, and trimmed his sails accordingly. He was in the majority 
of the Convention, of the National Assembly, and of the party that sustained 
the bloody Robespierre and his cut-throat successor. He belonged to the 
party of the consuls, the consul for life, and finally the emperor. What- 
ever party was uppermost, you would see the head of Talleyrand always 
high among them, never down. Like a certain dexterous animal, throw 
him as you please, head or tail, back or belly uppermost, he is always sure 
to light upon his feet. During a great part of the period described, he 
was minister of foreign affairs, and although totally devoid of all principle, 
no man ever surpassed him in the adroitness of his diplomatic notes. He 
is now, at an advanced age, I believe, grand chamberlain of his majesty, 
Charles the Tenth. 

I have lately seen an amusing anecdote of this celebrated man, which 
forces itself upon me whenever I look at the cabinet message. The king 
of France, like our president, toward the close of the last session of Con- 
gress, found himself in a minority. A question arose, whether, in conse- 
quence, he should dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, which resembles our 
House of Representatives. All France was agitated with the question. 
No one could solve it. At length, they concluded to go to that sagacious, 
cunning old fox, Talleyrand, to let them know what should be done. I 
tell you what, gentlemen, said he (looking very gravely, and taking a pinch 
of snuff), in the morning I think his majesty will dissolve the Deputies ; 
at noon I have changed that opinion ; and at night I have no opinion at 
all. Now, on reading the first column of this message, one thinks that 
the cabinet have a sort of an opinion in favor of internal improvements, 
with some limitations. By the time he has read to the middle of it, he 
concludes they have adopted the opposite opinion ; and when he gets to 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 411 

the end of it, he is perfectly persuaded, they have no opinion of their own 
"whatever ! 

Let us glance at a few only of the reasons, if reasons they can be 
called, of this piebald message. The first is, that the exercise of the power 
has produced discord, and, to restore harmony to the national councils, it 
should be abandoned, or, which is tantamount, the Constitution must be 
amended. The president is therefore advised to throw himself into the 
minority. Well — did that revive harmony ? When the question was 
taken in the House of the people's representatives, an obstinate majority 
still voted for the bill, the objections in the message notwithstanding. And 
in the Senate, the representatives of the States, a refractory majority, stood 
unmoved. But does the message mean to assert, that no great measure, 
about which public sentiment is much divided, ought to be adopted in con- 
sequence of that division ? Then none can ever be adopted. Apply this 
new rule to the case of the American Revolution. The colonies were rent 
into implacable parties — the tories everywhere abounded, and in some 
places outnumbered the whigs. This continued to be the state of things 
throughout the revolutionary contest. Suppose some timid, time-serving 
whig had, during its progress, addressed the public, and, adverting to the 
discord which prevailed, and the expediency of restoring harmony in the 
land, had proposed to abandon or postpone the establishment of our liberty 
and independence, until all should agree in asserting them ? The late war 
was opposed by a powerful and talented party ; what would have been 
thought of president Madison, if, instead of a patriotic and energetic mes- 
sage, recommending it, as the only alternative, to preserve our honor and 
vindicate our right, he had come to Congress with a proposal that we 
should continue to submit to the wrongs and degradation inflicted upon 
our country by a foreign power, because we were, unhappily, greatly 
divided ? What would have become of the settlement of the Missouri 
question, the tariff, the Indian bill of the last session, if the existence of a 
strong and almost equal division in the public councils ought to have pre- 
vented their adoption ? The principle is nothing more nor less than a 
declaration, that the right of the majority to govern, must yield to the 
perseverance, respectability, aud numbers of the minority. It is in keep- 
ing with the nullifying doctrines of South Carolina, and is such a principle 
as might be expected to be put forth by such a cabinet. The government 
of the United States, at this juncture, exhibits a most remarkable spectacle. 
It is that of a majority of the nation having put the powers of govern- 
ment into the hands of the minority. If any one can doubt this, let him 
look back at the elements of the executive, at the presiding officers of the 
two Houses, at the composition and the chairmen of the most important 
committees, who shape and direct the public business in Congress. Let 
him look, above all, at measures, the necessary consequences of such an 
anomalous state of things — internal improvements gone, or going ; the 
whole American system threatened, and the triumphant shouts of antici* 



412 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

pated victory sounding in our ears. Georgia, extorting from the fears of 
an affrighted majority of Congress an Indian bill, which may prostrate all 
the laws, treaties, and policy which have regulated our relations with the 
Indians from the commencement of our government ; and politicians in 
South Carolina, at the same time, brandishing the torch of civil war, and 
pronouncing unbounded eulogiums upon the president, for the good he has 
done, and the still greater good which they expect at his hands, and the 
sacrifice of the interests of the majority. 

Another reason assigned in the Maysville message is, the desire of pay- 
ing the national debt. By an act passed in the year 1817, an annual ap- 
propriation was made of ten millions of dollars, which were vested in the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, to pay the principal and interest of the 
public debt. That act svas prepared and carried through Congress by one 
of the most estimable and enlightened men that this country ever pro- 
duced, whose premature death is to be lamented on every account, but es- 
pecially because, if he were now living, he would be able, more than any 
other man, to check the extravagance and calm the violence raging in 
South Carolina, his native State. Under the operation of that act, nearly 
one hundred and fifty millions of the principal and interest of the public 
debt were paid, prior to the commencement of the present administration. 
During that of Mr. Adams, between forty and fifty were paid, while larger 
appropriations of money and land were made, to objects of internal im- 
provement, than ever had been made by all preceding administrations to- 
gether. There only remained about fifty millions to be paid, when 
the present chief magistrate entered on the duties of that office, and a con- 
siderable portion of that can not be discharged during the present official 
term. 

The redemption of the debt is, therefore, the work of Congress ; the 
president has nothing to do with it, the Secretary of the Treasury being 
directed annually to pay the ten millions to the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund, whose duty it is to apply the amount to the extinguishment of 
the debt. The secretary himself has no more to do with the operation, 
than the hydrants through which the water passes to the consumption of 
the population of this city. He turns the cock on the first of January, 
and the first of July, in each year, and the public treasure is poured out 
to the public creditor from the reservoir, filled by the wisdom of Congress. 
It is evident, from this just view of the matter, that Congress, to which 
belongs the care of providing the ways and means, was as competent as 
the president to determine what portion of their constituents' money could 
be applied to the improvement of their condition. As much of the public 
debt as can be paid, will be discharged in four years by the operation of 
the sinking fund. I have seen, in some late paper, a calculation of the de- 
lay which would have resulted, in its payment, from the appropriation to 
the Maysville road, and it was less than one week ! How has it happened, 
that, under the administration of Mr. Adams, and during every year of it, 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 413 

such large and liberal appropriations could be made for internal improve- 
ments, without touching the fund devoted to the public debt, and that this 
administration should find itself baulked in its first year ? 

The veto message proceeds to insist, that the Maysville and Lexington 
road is not a national but a local road, of sixty miles in length, and con- 
fined within the limits of a particular State. If, as that document also as- 
serts, the power can, in no case, be exercised until it shall have been ex- 
plained and defined by an amendment of the Constitution, the discrimina- 
tion of national and local roads, would seem to be altogether unnecessary. 
What is or is not a national road, the message supposes may admit of 
controversy, and is not susceptible of precise definition. The difficulty 
which its authors imagine, grows out of their attempt to substitute a rule 
founded upon the extent and locality of the road, instead of the use and 
purposes to which it is applicable. If the road facilitates, in a considerable 
degree, the transportation of the mail to a considerable portion of the 
Union, and at the same time promotes internal commerce among several 
States, and may tend to accelerate the movement of armies, and the distri- 
bution of the munitions of war, it is of national consideration. Tested by 
this, the true rule, the Maysville road was undoubtedly national. It con- 
nects the largest body, perhaps, of fertile land in the Union, with the navi- 
gation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and with the canals of the States 
of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. It begins on the line which 
divides the States of Ohio and Kentucky, and, of course, quickens trade 
and intercourse between them. Tested by the character of other works, 
for which the president, as a senator, voted, or which were approved by 
him only about a month before he rejected the Maysville bill, the road 
was undoubtedly national. 

But this view of the matter, however satisfactory it ought to be, is im- 
perfect. It will be admitted that the Cumberland road is national. It is 
completed no further than Zanesville, in the State of Ohio. On reaching 
that point two routes present themselves for its further extension, both 
national, and both deserving of execution. One leading northwestwardly, 
through the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to Missouri, and the 
other south- westwardly, through the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
and Alabama, to the Gulf of Mexico. Both have been long contemplated. 
Of the two, the south-western is the most wanted, in the present state of 
population, and will probably always be of the greatest use. But the 
north-western route is in process of execution beyond Zanesville, and ap- 
propriations toward part of it were sanctioned by the president at the last 
session. National highways can only be executed in sections, at different ■ 
times. So the Cumberland road was and continues to be constructed. Of 
all the parts of the south-western route, the road from Maysville to Lexing- 
ton is most needed, whether we regard the amount of transportation and 
traveling upon it, or the impediments which it presents in the winter and 



414 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

spring months. It took my family four days to reach Lexington from 
Maysville, in April, 1829. 

The same scheme which has heen devised and practiced to defeat the 
tariff, has been adopted to undermine internal improvements. They are to 
be attacked in detail. Hence the rejection of the Maysville road, the 
Fredei ictown road, and the Louisville canal. But is this fair ? Ought 
each proposed road to be viewed separately and detached ? Ought it not 
to be considered in connection with other great works which are in pro- 
cess of execution, or are projected ? The policy of the foes indicates what 
ought to be the policy of the friends of the power. 

The blow aimed at internal improvements has fallen with unmerited 
severity upon the State of Kentucky. No State in the Union has ever 
shown more generous devotion to its preservation and to the support of its 
honor and its interest than she has. During the late war, her sous fought 
gallantly by the side of the president, on the glorious 8th of January, when 
he covered himself with unfading laurels. Wherever the war raged, they 
were to be found among the foremost in battle, freely bleeding in the serv- 
ice of their country. They have never threatened nor calculated the value 
of this happy Union. Their representatives in Congress have con tantly 
and almost unanimously supported the power, cheerfully voting for large 
appropriations to works of internal improvements in other States. Not 
one cent of the common treasure has been expended on any public road in 
that State. They contributed to the elevation of the president, under a 
firm conviction, produced by his deliberate acts, and his solemn assertions, 
that he was friendly to the power. Under such circumstances, have they 
not just and abundant cause of surprise, regret, and mortification at the late 
unexpected decision ? 

Another mode of destroying the system, about which I fear I have de- 
tained you too long, which its foes have adopted, is to assail the character 
of its friends. Can you otherwise account for this spirit of animosity with 
which I am pursued ? A sentiment this morning caught my eye, in the 
shape of a 4th of July toast, proposed at the celebration of that anni- 
versary in South Carolina, by a gentleman whom I never saw, and to 
whom I am a total stranger. With humanity, charity, and Christian be- 
nevolence, unexampled, he wished that I might be driven so far beyond 
the frigid regions of the northern zone, that all hell could not thaw me ! 
Do you believe it was against me, this feeble and frail form, tottering with 
ao-e, this lump of perishing clay that all this kindness was directed ? No, 
no, no. It was against the measures of policy which I have espoused, 
against the system which 1 have labored to uphold, that it was aimed. If 
I had been opposed to the tariff, and internal improvements, and in favor 
of the South Carolina doctrine of nullification, the same worthy gentleman 
would have wished that I might be ever fanned by soft breezes, charged 
with aromatic odors — that ray path might be strewed with roses, and my 
abode be an earthly paradise. I am now a private man, the humblest of 



ON NULLIFICATION AND OTHER TOPICS. 415 

the humble, possessed of no office, no power, no patronage, no subsidized 
press, no post-office department to distribute its effusions, no army, no 
navy, no official corps to chant my praises, and to drink, in flowing bowls, 
my health and prosperity. I have nothing but the warm affections of a 
portion of the people, and a fair reputation, the only inheritance derived 
from niy father, and almost the only inheritance which I am desirous of 
transmitting to my children. 

The present chief magistrate has done me much wrong, but I have freely 
forgiven him. He believed, no doubt, that I had done him previous wrong. 
Although I am unconscious of it, he had that motive for his conduct 
toward me. But others who had joined in the hue and cry against me, 
had no such pretext. Why then am I thus pursued, my words perverted 
and distorted, my acts misrepresented? "Why do more than a hundred 
presses daily point their cannon at me, and thunder forth their peals of 
abuse and detraction ? It is not against me. That is impossible. A few 
years more, and this body will be where all is still and silent. It is against 
the principles of civil liberty, against the tariff and internal improvements, to 
which the better part of my life has been devoted, that this implacable war 
is waged. My enemies flatter themselves, that those systems may be over- 
thrown by my destruction. Vain and impotent hope ! My existence is 
not of the smallest consequence to their preservation. They will survive 
me. Long, long after I am gone, while the lofty hills encompass this fair 
city, the offspring of those measures shall remain ; while the beautiful 
river that sweeps by its walls, shall continue to bear upon its proud bosom 
the wonders which the immortal genius of Fulton, with the blessings of 
Providence, has given ; while truth shall hold its sway among men, those 
systems will invigorate the industry, and animate the hopes, of the farmer 
the mechanic, the manufacturer, and all other classes of our countrymen. 

People of Ohio here assembled — mothers — daughters — sons, and sires, 
when reclining on the peaceful pillow of repose, and communing with your 
own hearts, ask yourselves, if I ought to be the unremitting object of per- 
petual calumny. If, when the opponents of the late president gained the 
victory on the 4th of March, 1829, the war ought not to have ceased, 
quarter been granted, and prisoners released ? Did not those opponents 
obtain all the honors, offices, and emoluments of government ? the power, 
which they have frequently exercised, of rewarding whom they pleased, 
and punishing whom they could ? Was not all this sufficient ? Does it 
all avail not, while Mordecai, the Jew, stands at the king's gate ? 

I thank you, fellow-citizens, again and again, for the numerous proofs 
you have given me of your attachment and confidence. And may your 
fine city continue to enjoy the advantages of the enterprise, industry, and 
public spirit of its mechanics and other inhabitants, until it rises in wealth, 
extent, and prosperity, with the largest of our Atlantic capitals. 



REDUCTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 11, 1832. 

[We find Mr. Clay again in Congress, and in the Senate. 
One of the strongest motives for going there was, doubtless, to 
save his American System from being damaged by rash legisla- 
tion, to which it was exposed, not only by hostility to it from 
the South, but by the willingness of the President of the United 
States, General Jackson, to do any thing that would annoy Mr. 
Clay, and detract from his fame. The American System, com- 
menced in 1824, had been immensely beneficial to the country, 
was well appreciated by the people, and Mr. Clay had all the 
credit of it. This great fact put him on the shoulders of the 
American people, and they would throw up their hats for him 
anywhere. The public debt had been rapidly liquidated, and was 
now reduced to the small item of twenty-four millions, most of 
which was provided for the ensuing year. It was clear enough, 
therefore, that the duties on imports, which were the chief 
source of revenue, might be reduced, and that this measure was 
called for. But the principle of reduction was the great ques- 
tion to be settled. The South — especially South Carolina — de- 
manded the demolition of the protective system, which, for the 
last few years, had been the cause of such great public prosperity, 
and which Mr. Clay wished to preserve in such a degree as might 
be necessary for the required revenue and the continued pros- 
perity of the country, both of which objects a proper discrimi- 
nation in the reduction of duties would effectually secure. But 
there was the eagle eye of Mr. Calhoun, who believed that the 
protective system was injurious to the South ; and there was the 
envious disposition of General Jackson, who studied to impair 
the popularity of Mr. Clay. These were potent agencies which 
Mr. Clay foresaw would be brought to bear on his American 
System, and if possible to break it down. In anticipation of 
these demonstrations, and foreseeing that duties on imports 



ON THE REDUCTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 417 

must be reduced, for reasons above named, he introduced into 
the Senate the following resolution : 

"Kesolved, that the existing duties upon articles imported from foreign coun- 
tries, and not coming into competition with similar articles made or produced 
within the United States, ought to be forthwith abolished, except the duties up- 
on wines and silks, and that those ought to be reduced. And that the commit- 
tee on finance be instructed to report a bill accordingly." 

This resolution he supported by a speech, as follows, opening 
the debate on the great question, in which he afterward partici- 
pated in an argument of great length and force, as we shall have 
occasion to see.] 

I have a few observations, Mr. President, and only a few, to submit 
to the Senate, on the measure now before you, in doing which I Lave to 
ask all your indulgence. I am getting old ; I feel but too sensibly and un- 
affectedly the effects of approaching age, and I have been for some years 
very little in the habit of addressing deliberative assemblies. I am told 
that I have been the cause — the most unwilling cause, if I have been — of 
exciting expectations, the evidence of which is around us. I regret it ; for 
however the subject on which I am to speak, in other hands, might be 
treated, to gratify or to reward the presence and attention now given in 
mine, I have nothing but a plain, unvarnished, and unambitious exposition 
to make. 

It forms no part of my present purpose to enter into a consideration of 
the established policy of protection. Strong in the convictions and deeply 
seated in the affections of a large majority of the people of the United 
States, it stands self-vindicated in the general prosperity, in the rich fruits 
which it has scattered over the land, in the experience of all prosperous and 
powerful nations, present and past, and now in that of our own. Nor do I 
think it necessary to discuss that policy on this resolution. Other gentle- 
men may think differently, and may choose to argue and assail it. If they 
do, I have no doubt that in all parts of the Senate, members more compe- 
tent than I am, will be ready to support and defend it. My object now is 
to limit myself to a presentation of certain views and principles connected 
with the present financial condition of the country. 

A consideration of the state of the public revenue has become necessary 
in consequence of the near approach of the entire extinction of the public 
debt, ; and I concur with you, sir, in believing that no season could be 
more appropriate than the present session of Congress, to endeavor to make 
a satisfactory adjustment of the tariff". The public debt chiefly arose out 
of the late war, justly denominated the second contest for national inde- 
pendence. An act, commonly called the sinking-fund act, was passed by 
Congress nearly fifteen years ago, providing for its reimbursement. That 
act was prepared by a friend of yours and mine, and proposed by him, 

27 



418 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

whose premature death was not a loss merely to his native State, of which 
he was one of its brightest ornaments, but to the whole nation. No man 
with whom I ever had the honor to be associated in the legislative coun- 
cils, combined more extensive and useful information, with more firmness 
of judgment, and blandness of manner, than did the lamented Mr. Lowndes. 
And when in the prime of life, by the dispensation of an all-wise Provi- 
dence, he was taken from us, his country had reason to anticipate the 
greatest benefits from his wisdom and discretion. By that act an annual 
appropriation was made, of ten millions of dollars, toward the payment of 
the principal and interest of the public debt, and also any excess which 
might yearly be in the treasury, beyond two millions of dollars, which it 
was thought prudent to reserve for unforeseen exigences. 

But this system of regular and periodical application of public revenue 
to the payment of the public debt, would have been unavailing if Congress 
had neglected to provide the necessary ways and means. Congress did 
not, however, neglect the performance of that duty. By various acts, and 
more especially by the tariff of 1824 — the abused tariff of 1824 — the 
public coffers were amply replenished, and we have been enabled to reach 
our present proud eminence of financial prosperity. After Congress had 
thus abundantly provided funds, and directed then" systematical application, 
the duty remaining to be performed by the executive was one simply min- 
isterial. And no executive, and no administration, can justly claim for 
itself any other merit in the discharge of the public debt than that of a 
faithful execution of the laws ; no other merit than that similar one tb 
which it is entitled, for directing a regular payment of what is due from 
time to time to the army and navy, or to the officers of the civil govern- 
ment for their salaries. 

The operation of the sinking-fund act commenced with the commence- 
ment of Mr. Monroe's administration. During its continuance, of eight 
years, in consequence of the embarrassments of the treasury, the ten 
millions were not regularly applied to the payment of the debt, and upon 
the termination of that administration the treasury stood largely in arrear 
to the sinking-fund. During the subsequent administration of four years, 
not only were the ten millions faithfully applied during each year, but 
those arrears were brought up, and all previous deficiences made good. So 
that, when the present administration began, a plain, unincumbered, and 
well-defined path lay directly before it. Under the measures which have 
been devised in the short term of fifteen years, the government has paid 
nearly one hundred millions of principal, and about an equal sum of in- 
terest, leaving the small remnant behind of twenty-four millions. Of that 
amount, thirteen millions consist of three per cent, stock, created by the 
act of 1790, which the government does not stand bound to redeem at any 
prescribed time, but which it may discharge whenever it may suit its own 
convenience, and when it is discharged it must be done by the payment of 
dollar for dollar. I can not think, and I should suppose Congress can 



ON THE REDUCTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 419 

hardly believe -with the Secretary of the Treasury, that it would be wise to 
pay off a stock of thirteen millions, entitling its holders to but three per 
cent., with a capital of thirteen millions, worth an interest of six per cent. 
In other words, to take from the pockets of the people two dollars, to pay 
one in the hands of the stockholder. 

The moral value of the payment of a national debt consists in the 
demonstration which it affords of the ability of a country to meet, and its 
integrity in fulfilling, all its engagements. / That the resources of this coun- 
try, increasing, as it constantly is, in population and wealth, are abundantly 
sufficient to meet any debt, which it may ever prudently contract, can not 
be doubted. And its punctuality and probity, from the period of the as- 
sumption, in 1790, of the debt of the Revolution, down to the present 
time, rest upon a solid and incontestable foundation. The danger is not, 
perhaps, that it will not fairly meet its engagements, but that, from an in- 
ordinate avidity, arising from temporary causes, it may bring discredit 
upon itself by improvident arrangements, which no prudent man, in the 
management of his private affairs, would ever think of adopting. 

Of the residue of that twenty-four millions of debt, after deducting the 
thirteen millions of three per cent., less than two millions are due, and of 
right payable within the present year. If to that sum be added the moiety 
which becomes due on the 31st of December next, of the four million four 
hundred and fifty-four thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven dollars, 
created by the act of the 26th of May, 1824, we have but a sum of about 
four millions, which the public creditor can lawfully demand, or wdiich the 
government is bound to pay in the course of this year. If more is paid, it 
can only be done by anticipating the period of its payment, and going into 
the public market to purchase the stock. Can it be doubted that, if you 
do so, the vigilant holder of the stock, taking advantage of your anxiety, 
will demand a greater price than its value ? Already we perceive that the 
three per cent, have risen to the extraordinary height of ninety-six per cent. 
The difference between a j^ayment of the inconsiderable portion remaining 
of the public debt in one, two, or three years, is certainly not so important 
as to justify a resort to highly disadvantageous terms. 
/ Whoever may be entitled to the credit of the payment of the public 
' debt, I congratulate you, sir, and the country, most cordially, that it is so \ 
near at hand, a It is so nearly being totally extinguished, that we may now 
safely inquire whether, without prejudice to any established policy, we 
may not relieve the consumption of the country, by the repeal or re- 
duction of duties, and curtail considerably the public revenue. In making 
this inquiry, the first question that presents itself is, whether it is expedient 
to preserve the existing duties in order to accumulate a surplus in the 
treasury, for the purpose of subsequent distribution among the several 
States. I think not. If the collection for the purpose of such a surplus is 
to be made from the pockets of one portion of the people, to be ultimately 
returned to the same pockets, the process would be attended with the cer- 



420 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

tain loss arising from the charges of collection, and with the loss also of 
interest while the money is performing the unnecessary circuit, and it would 
therefore he unwise. If it is to be collected from one portion of the peo- 
ple and given to another, it would be unjust. If it is to be given to the 
States in their corporate capacity, to be used by them in their public ex- 
penditure, I know of no principle in the Constitution that authorizes the 
federal government to become such a collector for the States, nor of any 
principle of safety or propriety which admits of the States becoming such 
recipients of gratuity from the general government. 

The public revenue, then, should be regulated and adapted to the proper 
service of the general government. It should be ample ; for a deficit in 
the public income, always to be deprecated, is sometimes attended, as we 
know well from history and from what has happened in our own time, with 
fatal consequences. In a country so rapidly growing as this is, with such 
diversified interests, new wants and unexpected calls upon the public treas- 
ury must frequently occur. Take some examples from this session. The 
State of Virginia has presented a claim for an amount but little short of a 
million, which she presses with an earnestness demonstrating her conviction 
of its justice. The State of South Carolina has also a claim for no incon- 
siderable sum, being upward of one hundred thousand dollars, which she 
urges with equal earnestness. The gentleman from Pennsylvam'a (Mr. 
Wilkins) has brought forward a claim arising out of French spoliations 
previous to the convention of 1800, which is perhaps not short of five mil- 
lions, and to some extent I have no doubt it has a just foundation. In any 
provision of public revenue, Congress ought so to fix as to admit of the 
payment of honest and proper demands, which its justice can not reject or 
evade. 

I hope, too, that either in the adjustment of the public revenue, or what 
would be preferable, in the appropriation of the proceeds of the public 
lands, effectual and permanent provision will be made for such internal 
improvements as may be sanctioned by Congress. This is due to the 
American people, and emphatically due to the western people. Sir, tem- 
porary causes may exact a reluctant acquiescence from the people of the 
West in the suspension of appropriations to objects of internal improve- 
ment, but as certain as you preside in that chair, or as the sun performs its 
diurnal revolution, they will not be satisfied with an abandonment of the 
policy. They will come here and tell you, not in a tone of menace or 
supplication, but in the language of conscious right, that they must share 
with you in the benefits, as they divide with you the burdens and the per- 
ils, of a common government. They will say that they have no direct in- 
terest in the expenditures for the navy, the fortifications, nor even the army, 
those greatest absorbents of the public treasure ; that they are not indiffer- 
ent, indeed, to the safety and prosperity of any part of our common coun- 
try. On the contrary, that every portion of the republic is indirectly, at 
least, interested in the welfare of the whole, and that they ever sympathize 



ON THE EEDUCTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 421 

in the distresses and rejoice in the happiness of the most distant quarter of 
the Union. And to demonstrate that they are not careless or indifferent to 
interests not directly their own, they may proudly and triumphantly ap- 
peal to the gallant part which they bore in the late war, and point to the 
bloody fields on which some of their most patriotic sons nobly fell fighting 
in the common cause. But they will also say, that these paternal and just 
sentiments ought to be reciprocated by their Atlantic brethren ; that these 
ought not to be indifferent to the welfare of the West, and that they have 
the same collateral or indirect interest in its success and advancement that 
the West has in theirs ; that it does not ask internal improvements to be 
confined exclusively to itself, but that it may receive, in common with the 
rest of the Union, a practical benefit in the only form compatible with its 
interior condition. 

The appropriation of the proceeds of the public lands, or a considerable 
portion of them, to that object, woidd be a most natural and suitable dis- 
position. And I do hope, sir, that that great resource will be cherished 
and dedicated to some national purpose, worthy of the republic. Utterly 
opposed as I trust Congress will show itself to be, to all the mad and wild 
schemes — and to that latest, but maddest and wildest of all, recommended 
by the Secretary of the Treasury — for squandering the public domain, I 
hope it will be preserved for the present generation and for posterity, as it 
has been received from our ancestors, a rich and bountiful inheritance. In 
these halcyon days of peace and plenty and an overflowing treasury, we 
appear to embarrass ourselves in devising visionary schemes for casting 
away the bounties with which the goodness of Providence has blessed us. 
But, sir, the storm of war will come when we know not, the day of trial 
and difficulty will assuredly come, and now is the time, by a prudent fore- 
cast, to husband our resources, and this the greatest of them all. Let 
them not be hoarded and hugged with a miser's embrace, but liberally used. 
Let the public lands be administered in a generous spirit ; and especially 
toward the States within which they are situated. Let the proceeds of the 
sales of the public lands be applied in a season of peace to some great ob- 
ject, and when war does come, by suspending that application of them 
during its continuance, you will be at once put in possession of means for 
its vigorous prosecution. More than tweuty-five years ago, when first I 
took a seat in this body, I was told by the fathers of the government, that 
if we had any thing perfect in our institutions, it was the system for dis- 
posing of the public lands, and I was cautioned against rash innovations 
in it. Subsequent experience fully satisfied me of the wisdom of their 
counsels, and that all vital changes in it ought to be resisted. 

Although it may be impracticable to say what the exact amount of the 
public revenue should be for the future, and what would be the precise 
produce of any given system of imposts, we may safely assume that the 
revenue may now be reduced, and considerably reduced. This reduction 



422 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

may be effected in various ways, and on different principles. Only three 
modes shall now be noticed. 

First, to reduce duties on all articles in the same ratio, without regard to 
the principle of protection. 

Second, to retain them on the unprotected articles, and augment them 
on the protected articles. And, 

Third, to abolish and reduce the duties on unprotected articles, retaining 
and enforcing the faithful collection of those on the protected articles. 

To the first mode there are insuperable objections. It would lead in- 
evitably to the destruction of our home manufactures. It would establish 
a sort of bed of Procrustes, by which the duties on all articles should be 
blindly measured, without respect to their nature or the extent of their 
consumption. And it would be derogatory to every principle of theory or 
practice on which the government has hitherto proceeded. 

The second would be still more objectionable to the foes of the tariff 
than either of the others. But it can not be controverted, that, by aug- 
menting considerably the duties on the protected class, so as to carry them 
to the point, or near to the confines, of absolute prohibition, the object in 
view, of effecting the necessary reduction of the public revenue, may be 
accomplished without touching the duties on the unprotected class. The 
consequence of such an augmentation would be, a great diminution in the 
importation of the foregoing article, and of course in the duties upon it. 
But against entire prohibition, except perhaps in a few instances, I have 
been always, and still am, opposed. By leaving the door open to the for- 
eign rival article, the benefit is secured of a salutary competition. If it be 
hermetically closed, the danger is incurred of monopoly. The third mode 
is the most equitable and reasonable, and it presents an undebatable 
ground, on which I had hoped we all could safely tread without difficulty. 
It exacts no sacrifice of principle from the opponent of the American sys- 
tem, it comprehends none on the part of its friends. The measure before 
you embraces this mode. It is simple, and free from all complexity. It 
divides the whole subject of imposts according to its nature. It settles at 
once what ought not to be disputed, and leaves to be settled hereafter, if 
necessary, what may be controverted. 

A certain part of the South has hitherto complained, that it pays a dis- 
proportionate amount of the imposts. If the complaint be well founded, 
by the adoption of this measure it will be relieved at once, as will be 
hereafter shown, from at least a fourth of its burdens. The measure is in 
conformity with the uniform practice of the government from its com- 
mencement, and with the professions of all the eminent politicians of the 
South until of late. It assumes the right of the government, in the as- 
sessment of duties, to discriminate between those articles which sound pol- 
icy requires it to foster and those which it need not encourage. This has 
been the invarible principle on which the government has proceeded, from 
the act of Congress of the 4th of July, 1789, down to the present 



ON THE REDUCTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 423 

time. And lias it not been admitted by almost every prominent southern 
politician? Has it not even been acknowledged by the fathers of the free- 
trade church, in their late address promulgated from Philadelphia to the 
people of the United States ? If we never had a system of foreign im- 
posts, and were now called upon for the first time to originate one, should 
we not discriminate between the objects of our own industry and those 
produced by foreigners ? And is there any difference in its application 
between the modification of an existing system and the origination of a 
new one ? If the gentlemen of the South, opposed to the tariff, were to 
obtain complete possession of the powers of government, would they hazard 
their exercise on any other principle ? If it be said that some of the ar- 
ticles that would by this measure be liberated from duties, are luxuries, 
the remark is equally true of some of the articles remaining subject to 
duties. In the present advanced stage of civilization and comfort, it is 
not easy to draw the line between luxuries and necessaries. It will be 
difficult to make the people believe that bohea tea is a luxury, and the ar- 
ticle of fiue broadcloth is a necessary, of life. 

In stating that the duties on the protected class ought to be retained, it 
has been far from my wish to preclude inquiry into their adequacy or 
propriety. If it can be shown that in any instance they are excessive or 
disproportionately burdensome on any section of the Union, for one, I am 
ready to vote for their reduction, or modification. The system contem- 
plates an adequate protection ; beyond that, it is not necessary to go. 
Short of that, its operation will be injurious to all parties. 

The people of this country, or a large majority of them, expect that the 
system will be preserved. And its abandonment would produce general 
surprise, spread desolation over the land, and occasion as great a shock as 
a declaration of war forthwith against the most powerful nation of Europe. 

But if the system be preserved, it ought to be honestly, fairly, and faith- 
fully enforced. That there do exist the most scandalous violations of it, 
and the grossest frauds upon the public revenue in regard to some of the 
most important articles, can not be doubted. As to iron, objects really 
belonging to one denomination to which a higher duty is attached, are im- 
ported under another name, to which a lower duty is assigned, and thus 
the law is evaded. False invoices are made as to woolens, and the classi- 
fications into minimums is constantly eluded. The success of the Amer- 
ican manufacture of cotton bagging has been such that, by furnishing a 
better and cheaper article, the bagging of Inverness and Dundee has been 
almost excluded from the consumption of the States bordering on the Mis- 
sissippi and its tributaries. There has not yet been sufficient time to fab- 
ricate and transport the article in necessary quantities from the western 
States to the southern Atlantic States, which have therefore been almost 
exclusively supplied from the Scottish manufactories. The pa} r ment of 
the duty is evaded by the introduction of the foreign fabric, under the 
name of burlops, or some other mercantile phrase, and instead of paying 



424 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

five cents the square yard, it is entered with a duty of only fifteen per cen- 
tum ad valorem. That this practice prevails, is demonstrated hy the treas- 
ury report of the duties accruing on cotton bagging for the years 1828, 
1829-30. During the first year the amount was one hundred and thirty- 
seven thousand five hundred and six dollars; the second, one hundred and 
six thousand and sixty-eight dollars ; and the third it sank down to four- 
teen thousand one hundred and forty-one dollars. 

The time has arrived when the inquiry ought to be seriously made, 
whether it be not practicable to arrest this illegitimate course of trade, and 
secure the faithful execution of the laws. No time could be more suitable 
than that at which it is contemplated to make a great reduction of the 
public revenue. Two radical clianges have presented themselves to my 
mind, and which I will now suggest for consideration and investigation. 
On such a subject I would, however, seek from the mercantile community 
and practical men all the light which they are so capable of affording, and 
should be reluctant to act on my own convictions, however strong. 

The first is, to make a total change in the place of valuation. Now the 
valuation is made in foreign countries. We fix the duties, and we leave to 
foreigners to assess the value on articles paying ad valorem duties. That 
is, we prescribe the rule, and leave the execution of it to the foreigner. 
This is an anomaly, I believe, peculiar to this country. It is evident that 
the amount of duty payable on a given article, subject to an ad valorem 
duty, may be affected as much by the fixation of the value as by the 
specification of the duty. And, for all practical purposes, it would be just 
as safe to retain to ourselves the ascertainment of the value, and leave to 
the foreigner to prescribe the duty, as it is to reserve to ourselves the right 
to declare the duty and allow to him the privilege to assess the value. 

The effect of this vicious condition of the law has been to throw almost 
the whole import trade of the country, as to some important articles, into 
the hands of the foreigner. I have been informed that seven eighths of the 
importations of woolens into the port of New York, where more is received 
than in all the other ports of the United States together, are in his hands. 
This has not proceeded from any want of enterprise, intelligence, or capital, 
on the part of the American merchant ; for in these particulars he is sur- 
passed by the merchant of no country. It has resulted from his probity, 
his character, and his respect to the laws and institutions of his country — 
a respect which does not influence the foreigner. I am aware it is made, 
by law, the duty of the appraiser to ascertain the value of the goods in 
certain cases. But what is his chief guide. It is the foreign invoice, made 
by whom he knows not ; certainly by no person responsible to our laws. 
And if its fairness be contested, they will bring you cart-loads of certificates 
and affidavits, from unknown persons, to verify its exactness and the first 
cost of the article. 

Now, sir, it seems to me that this is a state of things to which we should 
promptly apply an efficient remedy ; and no other appears to me but that 



ON THE REDUCTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 425 

of taking into our own bands both parts of the operation — the ascertainment 
of tbe value as well as tbe duty to be paid on the goods. If it be said that 
we might have in different ports different rules, the answer is, that there 
could be no diversity greater than that to which we are liable, from the 
fact of the valuation being now made in all the ports of foreign countries 
from which we make our importations. And that it is better to have the 
valuations made by persons responsible to our own government, and reg- 
ulated by one head, than by unknown foreigners standing under no re- 
sponsibility whatever to us. The other change to which I allude is, to 
reduce the credits allowed for the payment of duties, and to render them 
uniform. It would be better, if not injurious to commerce, to abolish them 
altogether. Now we have various periods of credit, graduated according 
to the distance of the foreign port and the nature of the trade. These 
credits operate as so much capital, on which the foreign merchant can 
sometimes make several adventures before the day of payment arrives. 
There is no reciprocal advantage afforded to the American merchant, I 
believe, in any foreign port. As we shall probably abolish, or greatly re- 
duce the duties on all articles imported beyond the Cape of Good Hope, 
on which the longest credits are allowed, the moment would seem to be 
propitious for restricting the other credits in such manner, that while they 
afforded a reasonable facility to the merchant, they should not supply the 
foreigner, at the instance of the public, with capital for his mercantile 
operations. If the laws can be strictly enforced, and some such alterations 
as have been suggested can be carried into effect, it is quite probable that 
a satisfactory reduction may be made on some of the articles falling within 
the system of protection. And without impairing its principle, other modes 
of relief may probably be devised to some of those interests upon which it 
is suffered to press most heavily. 

There remains one view to present to the Senate, in respect to the 
amount of reduction of the revenue which will be produced by the pro- 
posed measure if adopted, and its influence upon the payment of the public 
debt within the time suggested by the Secretary of the Treasury. The 
estimate which I have made of that amount, is founded upon treasury 
returns prior to the late reduction of duties on tea, coffee, and cocoa. 
Supposing the duties on wines and silks to be reduced as low as I think 
they may be, the total amount of revenue with which the proposed meas- 
ure will dispense, will be about seven millions of dollars. The Secretary 
of the Treasury estimates the receipts of the present year, from all sources, 
at thirty millions one hundred thousand dollars ; and he supposes those 
of the next year will be of an equal amount. He acknowledges that the 
past year has been one of extraordinary commercial activity, but on what 
principles does he anticipate that the present will also be \ The history 
of our commerce demonstrates that it alternates, and that a year of intem- 
perate speculation, is usually followed by one of more guarded importa- 
tion. That the importations of the last year have been excessive, I believe 



426 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

is generally confessed, and is demonstrated by two unerring facts. The 
first is, that the imports have exceeded the exports, by about seventeen 
millions of dollars. Whatever may be the qualifications to which the theory 
of the balance of trade may be liable, it may be safely affirmed that when 
the aggregate of the importations from all foreign countries exceeds the 
aggregate of the exportations to all foreign countries, considerably, the un- 
favorable balance must be made up by a remittance of the precious metals 
to some extent. Accordingly we find the existence of the other facts to 
which I allude, the high price of bills of exchange on England. It is, 
therefore, fairly to be anticipated, that the duties accruing this year will be 
less in amount than those of the past year. And I think it would be un- 
wise to rely upon our present information, as to the income of either of 
these two years, as furnishing a safe guide for the future. The years 
1829-30 will supply a surer criterion. There is a remarkable coincidence 
in the amount of the receipts into the treasury during those two years, it 
having been the first, from all sources, twenty-four million eight hundred 
and twenty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-seven dollars and 
thirty-eight cents, and the second, twenty-four million eight hundred and 
forty-four thousand one hundred and sixteen dollars and fifty-one cents, 
differing only about seventeen thousand dollars. 

The mode recommended by the secretary for the modification of the 
tariff is, to reduce no part of the duties on the unprotected articles prior 
to March, 1833, and then to retain a considerable portion of them. And 
as to the protected class, he would make a gradual but prospective reduc- 
tion of the duties. The effect of this would be to destroy the protecting 
system, by a slow but certain poison. The object being to reduce the 
revenue, every descending degree in the scale of his plan of gradual re- 
duction, by letting in more of the foreign article to displace the domestic 
rival fabric, would increase the revenue, and create the necessity for further 
and further reduction of duties, until they would be carried so low as to 
end in the entire subversion of the system of protection. 

For the reasons which have been assigned, it would, I think, be unwise 
in Congress at this time to assume for the future, that there would be a 
greater amount of net annual revenue from all sources, including the pub- 
lic lands, than twenty-five millions of dollars. Deducting from that sum 
the amount of seven millions of dollars, which it has been supposed ought 
to be subtracted, if the resolution before you should be adopted, there 
would remain eighteen millions of dollars, as the probable revenue for fu- 
ture years. This includes the sum of three millions of dollars, estimated 
as the future annual receipt from the sale of the public lands — an esti- 
mate which I presume will be demonstrated by experience to be much too 
large. 

If a reduction so large as seven millions be made at this session, and 
if the necessary measures be also adopted to detect and punish frauds, and 
insure a faithful execution of the laws, we may safely make a temporary 



ON THE REDUCTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 427 

pause, and await the development of the effect of these arrangements upoD 
the revenue. That the authority of the laws should be vindicated, all 
ought to agree. Now the fraudulent importer, after an exposure of his 
fraud, by a most strange treasury construction of the law (made, I under- 
stand, however, not by the present secretary), eludes all punishment, and 
is only required to pay those very duties which he was originally bound 
for, but which he dishonestly sought to evade. Other measures, with a 
view to a further reduction of the revenue, may be adopted. In some in- 
stances there might be an augmentation of duties for that purpose. I 
will mention the article of foreign distilled spirits. In no other country 
upon earth is there so much of the foreign article imported as in this. 
The duties ought to be doubled, and the revenue thereby further reduced 
from a million of dollars to six hundred thousand. The public morals, 
the grain-growing country, the fruit-raising and the cane-planting country, 
would be all benefited by rendering their duty prohibitory. I have not 
proposed the measure, because it ought to originate, perhaps in the other 
House. 

That the measure which I have proposed may be adopted, without in- 
terfering with the plan of the Secretary of the Treasury for the payment 
of the public debt by the 4th of March next, I will now proceed to show. 
The secretary estimates that the receipts of the present year, after meeting 
all other just engagements, will leave a surplus of fourteen millious of dol- 
lars, applicable to the payment of the principal of the debt. With this 
sum, eight millions of dollars, which he proposes to derive from the sale 
of the bank stock, and two millions of dollars, which he would anticipate 
from the revenue of the next year, he suggests that the whole of the debt 
remaining, may be discharged by the time indicated. The fourteen mil- 
lions, I understand (although on this subject the report is not perfectly ex- 
plicit), are receipts anticipated this year, from duties which accrued last 
year. If this be the secretary's meaning, it is evident that he wants no 
part of the duties which may accrue during the current year, to execute 
his plan. But if his meaning be, that the fourteen millions will be com- 
posed, in part of duties accruing and payable within the present year, then 
the measure proposed might prevent the payment of the whole of the 
remnant of the debt by the exact day which has been stated. If, how- 
ever, the entire seven millions embraced by the resolution on your table 
were subtracted from the fourteen, it would still leave him seven millions, 
besides the bank stock to be applied to the debt, and that, of itself, would 
be three millions more than can be properly applied to the object in the 
course of this year, as I have already endeavored to show. 

I came here, sir, most anxiously desiring that an arrangement of the 
public revenue should be made, which, without sacrificing any of the great 
interests of the country, would reconcile and satisfy all its parts. I thought 
I perceived, in the class of objects not produced within the country, a field 
on which we could all enter, in a true and genuine spirit of compromise 



428 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

and harmony, and agree upon an amicable adjustment. Why should it not 
be done ? Why should those who are opposed to the American system, 
demand of its friends an unconditional surrender ? Our common object 
should be, so to reduce the public revenue as to relieve the burdens of the 
people, if the people of this country can be truly said to be burdened. 
The government must have a certain amount of revenue, and that amount 
must be collected from the imposts. Is it material to the consumer, 
wherever situated, whether the collection be made upon a few, or many 
objects, provided, whatever be the mode, the amount of his contribution to 
the public exchequer remains the same ? If the assessment can be made 
on objects which will greatly benefit large portions of the Union, without 
injury to him, why should he object to the selection of those objects ? 
Yes, sir, I came here in a spirit of warm attachment to all parts of our be- 
loved country, with a lively solicitude to restore and preserve its harmony, 
and with a firm determination to pour oil and balm into existing wounds, 
rather than further to lacerate them. For the truth and sincerity of these 
declarations, I appeal to Him whom none can deceive. I expected to be 
met by corresponding dispositions, and hoped that our deliberations, guided 
by fraternal sentiments and feelings, would terminate in diffusing con- 
tentment and satisfaction throughout the land. And that such may be 
the spirit presiding over them, and such their issue, I yet most fervently 
hope. 



ON MR. VAN BURENS NOMINATION AS 
MINISTER TO ENGLAND, 

IN THE SENATE, JANUARY 24, 1832. 

[Doubtless there was just cause, as shown in the following 
speech, of dissatisfaction in the Senate and in the country, to 
this nomination of Mr. Van Buren to the Court of St. James ; 
but was it expedient for the Senate to reject it ? The sequel 
showed, that this act of rejection made Mr. Van Buren vice- 
president first, and president next. General Jackson's power 
over the minds of the majority of the American people, was irre- 
sistible, and the opposition of the Senate in this case, probably 
augmented that power. That Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, and oth- 
ers, opponents of this nomination, should not have foreseen a 
result of this kind, or adopted a policy based upon it, must be 
ascribed, one would think, to the single purpose of doing pres- 
ent justice to the nominee, rather than of regarding conse- 
quences. The Senate were equally divided in this vote, and the 
rejection of Mr. Van Buren required the casting vote of the 
vice-president, Mr. Calhoun, which was given. The injunction 
of secrecy having been removed, the speeches and votes of this 
executive session of the Senate were all made public, and after- 
ward used, with great effect, by the Jackson party, to advance 
the interest of Mr. Van Buren, first as candidate, this very year, 
1832, for the vice-presidency, and afterward, 1836, as candidate 
for the presidency, in both of which he was successful. With 
the majority of the American people, this opposition of the 
Senate was not ascribed to patriotic motives, but to a spirit of 
revenge. Mr. Calhoun, who gave the casting vote, certainly had 
reasons for revenge ; for Mr. Van Buren had ruined all his 
chances for the succession, by disclosing to General Jackson the 
fact, that he (Mr. Calhoun), while a member of Mr. Monroe's 
cabinet, had moved a censure on General Jackson, for his con- 
duct of the Seminole War, and it is quite probable that this 
state of personal feeling had an influence in producing Mr. Cal- 



430 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 



hoim's casting vote against Mr. Van Buren. It would almost 
seem morally impossible that it should be otherwise. 

As to the grounds of Mr. Clay's opposition, they are presented 
in the following speech, in a manly and statesman-like manner, 
and no one can fail to appreciate their strength. But still one 
can not but feel that he might as well have passed over the mat- 
ter in silence, and allowed Mr. Van Buren to stay in London. 
But as Mr. Clay did not study expediency, personal to himself, 
in his speech on the Seminole war, so neither did he do it in 
this case. He was not the man to do it in any case. With him 
it was simply a question of truth and of patriotic duty, though 
he might, and in this instance we think he did, partly misjudge. 
Mr. Van Buren doubtless had talent enough for the mission to 
London, and it was not likely that he would there prove so un- 
patriotic as Mr. Clay has demonstrated in his speech that he did 
while acting as Secretary of State. It was simply a question, 
whether Mr. Van Buren' s rejection would open a wider door for 
what Mr. Clay would regard as his pernicious influence at 
home. The decision of the Senate opened that door most ef- 
fectually. Mr. Van Buren was rejected ; he came home ; and 
was immediately put in nomination and elected as vice-presi- 
dent. Next he succeeded to the presidency, and in 1840, hav- 
ing run down the commercial prosperity of the country to the 
lowest ebb by his policy, he was superseded by the election of 
General Harrison. The Senate of the United States, by reject- 
ing him as minister to London, gave him full sweep at home, 
till the people arrested his career.] 

Mr. President — I regret that I find myself utterly unable to reconcile 
with the duty I owe to my country a vote in favor of this nomination. I 
regret it, because in all the past strife of party the relations of ordinary 
civility and courtesy were never interrupted between the gentleman whose 
name is before us and myself. But I regard my obligations to the people 
of the United States, and to the honor and character of their government, 
as paramount to every private consideration. There was no necessity 
known to us for the departure of this gentleman from the United States, 
prior to the submission of his name to the Senate. Great Britain was rep- 
resented here by a diplomatic agent, having no higher rank than that of 
a charge des affaires. We were represented in England by one of equal 
rank ; one who had shed luster upon his country by his high literary char- 
acter, and of whom it may be justly said, that in no respect was he inferior 
to the gentleman before us. Although I shall not controvert the right of ' 
the president, in an extraordinary case, to send abroad a public minister 



NOMINATION OF MR. VAN BUREN TO ENGLAND. 431 

without the advice and consent of the Senate, I do not admit that it ever 
ought to be done without the existence of some special cause, to be com- 
municated to the Senate. We have received no communication of the ex- 
istence of any such special cause. This view of the matter might nut have 
beeu sufficient alone to justify a rejection of this nomination ; but it is suf- 
ficient to authorize us to examine the subject with as perfect freedom as we 
could have done if the minister had remained in the United States, and 
awaited the decision of the Senate. I consider myself, therefore, not com- 
mitted by the separate and unadvised act of the president in despatching 
Mr. Van Bureu in the vacation of the Senate, and not a very long time 
before it was to assemble. 

My main objection to the confirmation of his appointment arises out of 
his instructions to the late minister of the United States at the court of 
Great Britain. The attention of the Senate has been already called to parts 
of those instructions, but there are other parts of them, in my opinion, 
highly reprehensible. Speaking of the colonial question, he says, •' in re- 
viewing the events which have preceded, and more or less contributed, to 
a result so much to be regretted, there will be found three grounds, on 
which we are most assailable. First, in our too long and too tenaciously 
resisting the right of Great Britain to impose protecting duties in her col- 
onies." * * * "And, thirdly, in omitting to accept the terms offer- 
ed by the act of Parliament of July, 1825, after the subject had been 
brought before Congress, and deliberately acted upon by our government. 
* * * You will, therefore, see the propriety of possessing yourself of 
all the explanatory and mitigating circumstances connected with them, 
that you may be enabled to obviate, as far as practicable, the unfavorable 
impression which they have produced." And after reproaching the late 
administration with setting up claims and for the first time, which they 
explicitly abandoned, he says, in conclusion, " I will add nothing as to the 
impropriety of suffering any feelings, that find their origin in the past 
pretensions of this government, to have adverse influence upon the present 
conduct of Great Britain. 1 ' 

On our side, according to Mr. Van Buren, all was wrong ; on the British 
side, all was right. We brought forward nothing but claims and preten- 
sions. The British government asserted, ou the other hand, a clear and in- 
contestable light. We erred in too tenaciously and too long insisting upon 
our pretensions, and not yielding at once to the force of their just demands. 
And Mr. McLane was commanded to avail himself of all the circumstances 
in his power to mitigate our offense, and to dissuade the British govern- 
ment from allowing their feelings, justly incurred by the past conduct of 
the party driven from power, to have an adverse influence toward the 
American party now in power. Sir, w 7 as this becoming language from one 
independent nation to another ? Was it proper, in the mouth of an Amer- 
ican minister ? Was it it in conformity with the high, unsullied, and dig- 
nified character of our previous diplomacy ? Was it not, on the contrary 



432 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the language of an humble vassal to a proud and haughty lord ? Was it 
not prostrating and degrading the American eagle before the British lion ? 

Let us examine a little those pretensions which the American government 
so unjustly put forward, and so pertinaciously maintain. The American 
government contended, that the produce of the United States ought to be 
admitted into the British West Indies, on the same terms as similar pro- 
duce of the British American continental possessions ; that without this 
equality our produce could not maintain in the British West Indies a 
fair competition with the produce of Canada, and that British preference 
given to the Canadian produce in the West Indies would draw from the 
western part of New York, and the northern part of Ohio, American pro- 
duce into Canada, aggrandizing Montreal and Quebec, and giving employ- 
ment to British shipping, to the prejudice of the canals of New York, the 
port of New York, and American shipping. 

This was the offense of the American government, and we are at this 
moment realizing the evils which it foresaw. Our produce is passing into 
Canada, enriching her capitals, and nourishing British navigation. Our 
own wheat is transported from the western part of New York into Canada, 
there manufactured, and then transported in British ships in the form of 
Canadian flour. We are thus deprived of the privilege even of manufac- 
turing our own grain. And when the produce of the United States, ship- 
ped from the Atlantic ports, arrives at the British West Indies, it is unable, 
in consequence of the heavy duties with which most of it is burdened, to 
sustain a competition with British or colonial produce, freely admitted. 

The general rule may be admitted, that every nation has a right to 
favor its own productions, by protecting duties, or other regulations ; but, 
like all genei'al rules, it must have its exceptions. And the relation in 
which Great Britain stands to her continental and West India colonies, 
from which she is separated by a vast sea, and the relations in which the 
United States stand to those colonies, some of which are in juxtaposition 
with them, constitute a fit case for such an exception. 

It is true, that the late administration did authorize Mr. Gallatin to treat 
with Great Britain on the basis of the rule which has been stated, but it 
was with the express understanding, that some competent provision should 
be made in the treaty to guard against the British monopoly of the trans- 
portation of our own produce passing through Canada. Mr. Gallatin was 
informed, " that the United States consent to the demand which they have 
heretofore made of the admission of their productions into British colonies, 
at the same and no higher rate of duty as similar productions are charge- 
able with when imported from one into another British colony, with the 
exception of our produce descending the St. Lawrence and the Sorell." 

There was no abandonment of our right, no condemnation of the pre- 
vious conduct of our government, no humiliating admission, that Ave had 
put forth and too tenaciously clung to unsustainable pretensions, and that 
Great Britain had all along been in the right. We only forbore for the 



NOMINATION OF MR. VAN BUREN TO ENGLAND. 433 

present to assert a right, leaving ourselves at liberty subsequently to resume 
it. What Mr. Gallatin was authorized to do was, to make a temporary 
concession, and it was proposed with this preliminary annunciation : " But, 
notwithstanding, on a full consideration of the whole subject, the president, 
anxious to give a strong proof to Great Britain of the desire of the gov- 
ernment of the United States to arrange this long-contested matter of the 
colonial intercourse in a manner mutually satisfactory, authorizes you," 
etc. And Mr. Gallatin was required " to endeavor to made a lively impres- 
6ion on the British government of the conciliatory spirit of that of the 
United States, which has dictated the present liberal offer, and of their 
expectation to meet, in the progress of the negotiations, with a correspond- 
ing friendly disposition." 

Now, sir, keeping sight of the object which the late Secretary of State 
had in view, the opening of the trade with the British colonies, which was 
the best mode to accomplish it — to send our minister to prostrate himself 
as a suppliant before the British throne, and to say to the British king, 
we have offended your majesty ! the late American administration brought 
forward pretensions which we can not sustain, and they too long and too 
tenaciously adhered to them ! your majesty was always in the right ; but 
we hope that your majesty will be graciously pleased to recollect, that it 
was not we who are now in possession of the American power, but those 
who have been expelled from it, that wronged your majesty, and that we, 
when out of power, were on the side of your majesty ; and we do humbly 
pray, that your majesty, taking all mitigating circumstances' into consider- 
ation, will graciously coudescend to extend to us the privileges of the British 
act of Parliament of 1825, and to grant us the boon of a trade with your 
majesty's West India colonies — or to have presented himself before the 
British monarch in the manly and dignified attitude of a minister of this 
republic, and, abstaining from all condemnation or animadversion upon the 
past conduct of his own government, to have placed the withdrawal of 
our former demand upon the ground of concession in a spirt of amity and 
compromise ? 

But the late Secretary of State, the appointed organ of the American 
people to vindicate their rights with all foreign powers, and to expose the 
injustice of any unfounded demands which they might assert, was not con- 
tent to exert his own ingenuity to put his own country in the wrong, and 
the British government in the light. He endeavored to attach to the late 
administration the discredit of bringing forward unfounded pretensions, and 
by disclaiming them, to propitiate the favor of the British king. He says 
that the views of the present administration upon the subject of the colonial 
trade " have been submitted to the people of the United States, and the 
counsels by which your conduct is now directed are the result of the judg- 
ment expressed by the only earthly tribunal to which the late administra- 
tion was amenable for its acts. It should be sufficient, that the claims set 
up by them, and what caused the interruption of the trade in question, 

28 



434 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

have been explicitly abandoned by those who first asserted them, and are 
not revived by their successors." The late Secretary of State — the gentle- 
man under consideration — here makes the statement, that the late admin- 
istration were the first to set up the claims to which he refers. Now, under 
all the high responsibility which belongs to the seat which I occupy, I de- 
liberately pronounce that this statement is untrue, and that the late Secre- 
tary either must have known it to be untrue, or he was culpably negligent 
of his duty in not ascertaining what had been done under prior adminis- 
trations. I repeat the charge, the statement must have been known to be 
untrue, or there was culpable negligence. If it were material, I believe it 
could be shown that the claim in question — the right to the admission into 
the British West Indies of the produce of the United States upon an equal 
footing with similar produce of the British continental colonies — is coeval 
with the existence of our present Constitution, and that whenever the occa- 
sion arose for asserting the claim, it was asserted. But I shall go no further 
back than to Mr. Madison's administration. Mr. Monroe, the then Secre- 
tary of State, instructed our then minister at London upon this subject. 
He negotiated with Lord Castlereagh in respect to it, and this very claim 
prevented an adjustment at that time of the colonial question. It was 
again brought forward under Mr. Monroe's administration, when Mr. Rush 
was our minister at London. He opened a long and protracted negotiation 
upon this and other topics, which was suspended in the summer of 1824, 
principally because the parties could not agree on any satisfactory arrange- 
ment of this very colonial question. 

Thus, at least, two administrations prior to that of Mr. Adams' had 
brought forward this identical claim or pretension, which his was the first 
to assert, according to the late Secretary of State. 

The next charge which the late Secretary of State — the official defender 
of the rights of the American people — preferred against his own govern- 
ment, was that of " omitting to accept the terms offered by the act of 
Parliament, of July, 1825, after the subject had been brought before Con- 
gress, and deliberately acted upon by our government." Never was there 
a more unfounded charge brought forward by any native against his own 
government, and never was there a more unwarrantable apology set up for 
a foreign government ; and a plain, historical narrative, will demonstrate 
the truth of both these propositions. 

It has been already stated that the negotiation of Mr. Rush, embracing 
the precise colonial claim under consideration, was suspended in 1824, with 
an understanding between the two governments, that it was to be resumed 
on all points at some future convenient period. Early in July, 1825, neither 
government having then proposed a resumption of the negotiation, the 
British Parliament passed an act to regulate the colonial trade with foreign 
powers. This act was never, during the late administration, either at Lon- 
don or Washington, officially communicated by the British to the Amer- 
ican government, and we only obtained it through other channels. Now 



NOMINATION OF MR. VAN BUREN TO ENGLAND. 435 

if it had been the purpose of the British government, by the passage of 
that act, to withdraw the colonial question from the negotiation, it ought 
to have communicated that purpose to this government, and at the same 
time the act of Parliament as supplanting and substituting the negotiation. 
But it never did communicate such purpose. The act itself did not spe- 
cifically embrace the United States, and offered terms, which, upon the face 
of the act, it was impossible for the United States to accede to. It re- 
quired, for example, that, to entitle powers not possessing colonies, to the 
benefit of the act, they must place the navigation and commerce of Great 
Britain upon the footing of the most favored nations. To have done this, 
would have admitted British shipping to import into the United States, on 
the same conditions with native shipping, the productions of any quarter 
of the globe, without a reciprocal liberty, on the part of the shipping of 
the United States, in British ports. The act itself was differently con- 
strued in different colonial j)orts of Great Britain, and an order of the local 
government of Halifax closing that port against our vessels from the 5th 
of Janimry, was subsequently revoked, thereby confirming the impression 
that the act of Parliament was not intended to dispense with the previous 
negotiation. And to conclude this part of the narrative, as late as the 20th 
of October, 1826, Mr. Vaughan, the British minister, upon being interro- 
gated by the then Secretary of State, was totally uninstructed to afford 
any information as to the meaning or iutent of the act of July, 1825. 

Meantime, in March, more than six months after the passage of the act 
of Parliament, Mr. Vaughan notified the Department of State that he had 
" received instructions from his majesty's government, to acquaint you that 
it is preparing to proceed to the important negotiations between that coun- 
try and the United States, now placed in the hands of the American min- 
ister, in London." * * * " The negotiations will therefore be forth- 
with resumed." * * * Here the negotiations were spoken of without 
exception of the colonial question, the most important of them. If it had 
been intended to withdraw that, no time could have been more suitable to 
announce that intention, but no such annunciation was made. Mr. Vaughan 
was informed that we also would prepare for the negotiation (including, 
of course, the colonial question), and Mr. Gallatin was accordingly shortly 
after sent out, with full powers and instructions, amicably to settle that 
question. On his arrival in England, in the summer of 1826, he was told 
by the British government that they would not negotiate on the colonial 
question ; that they had made up their mind, from the passage of the act 
of July, 1825, not to negotiate about it; and he was informed by the sar- 
castic Mr. Canning, that as we had failed to accept the boon which the 
British government had then offered, we were then too late ! 

Such is the state of the case on which the late Secretary of State so 
authoritatively .pronounces judgment against his own government, for 
" omitting to accept the terms offered by the act of Parliament of July, 
1825!" He adds, indeed, " after the subject had been brought before 



436 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Congress, and deliberately acted upon by our government." It was 
brought before Congress in the session of 1825-6, not at the instance of 
the American executive, but upon the spontaneous and ill-judged motion 
of the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith), and Mr. Gallatin was informed 
that if the bill proposed by that gentleman had been passed, it would have 
been unsatisfactory to the British government. 

I have another objection to this nomination. I believe, upon circum- 
stances which satisfy my mind, that to this gentleman is principally to be 
ascribed the introduction of the odious system of proscription, for the ex- 
ercise of the elective franchise, in the government of the United States. I 
understand that it is the system on which the party in his own State, of 
which he is the reputed head, constantly acts. He was among the 
first of the secretaries to apply that system to the dismission of clerks 
in his department, known to me to be highly meritorious, and among 
them one who is now a representative in the other House. It is a detest- 
able system, drawn from the worst periods of the Roman republic, and if 
it were to be perpetuated — if the offices, honors, and dignities of the peo- 
ple were to be put up to a scramble, and to be decided by the results of 
every presidential election — our government and institutions, becoming in- 
tolerable, would finally end in a despotism as inexorable as that at Con- 
stantinople. 

Sir, the necessity under which we are placed is painful. But it is no 
fault of the Senate, whose consent and advice are required by the Consti- 
tution, to consummate this appointment, that the minister has been sent 
out of the United States without their concurrence. I hope that the pub- 
lic will not be prejudiced by his rejection, if he should be rejected. And 
I feel perfectly assured, that if the government to which he has been de- 
puted, shall learn that he has been rejected, because he has there, by his 
instructions to Mr. McLane, stained the character of our country, the 
moral effect of our decision will greatly outweigh any advantages to be 
derived from his negotiations, whatever they may have been intended to be. 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM, 

IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 2, 3, & 6, 1832. 

[The resolution of Mr. Clay, of January 11, for the reduction 
of duties on imports, being still under debate in the Senate, 
after having listened to all that had been said on the subject in 
the mean time, Mr. Clay commenced, on the 2d of February, 
1832, what may be called his great speech in defense of the 
American System, which he continued for three successive days. 
Considering the state of the science of Public Economy, as it 
then existed, this is the most powerful argument that had ever 
been made. But it is not too much to say that the science of 
Public Economy has made a great stage of advance since the 
date of this speech, and that, if Mr. Clay had then been in pos- 
session of the impositions which constitute this improvement, 
he would have been able to make his argument, clear and forci- 
ble as it is, far more clear and conclusive. He would then have 
applied the theory of the science in its present state, to the facts 
which he so abundantly adduced, to establish it. The new prop- 
ositions are as follows : That so long as protective duties are not 
prohibitory, they are not a tax on consumers, but they dimmish 
prices; and when the duties are prohibitory only because of do- 
mestic competition, they are still not taxes on consumers, but 
reduce prices. The first of these propositions is the main one, 
and perhaps the most important, though both are important, 
and based on the same principle. 

The advantage of science is, that it presents propositions in 
form, which settle controversy, where controversy may have ex- 
isted. Sir Isaac Newton's propositions touching the laws of 
gravitation, have never been controverted, and never can be, be- 
cause they are strictly scientific. Having ascertained the laws 
which uniformly produce certain results, he reduced those laws 
to form, which constitutes the science. Mr. Clay dealt only with 
facts, and his facts abundantly proved the propositions of the 
science above stated ; but neither he nor any body else had at 



438 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that time reduced these propositions to form, or set up the 
theory which they announce. Mr. Clay was even accustomed to 
admit, that duties were in all cases a tax on consumers, though 
he proved the contrary, as the following speech will show. He 
proved that the American System had so reduced the prices of 
articles subject to duty, and enhanced the demand for the agri- 
cultural products of this country, as to have relieved the people 
from an immense burden, and put them forward in an unexam- 
pled career of prosperity ; but he never thought that this result 
was owing entirely to the truth of the propositions above stated, 
as parts of a science. Triumphant as he was in his argument, 
by the statement of his facts, yet, if he had been prepared to 
lay down these propositions first, he would have walked from the 
field on ground as firm as that which Sir Isaac Newton trod upon 
when he propounded his theory of gravitation. 

Assuming that Mr. Clay has proved the truth of these propo- 
sitions in his speech — as he undoubtedly has — let us see how 
trade operates to produce this result. The moment when a pro- 
tective duty encourages the American producer to come into the 
field of competition against the foreign producer, the two parties 
are rivals in the same market, and both will sell to consumers as 
low as they can, and make a fair profit. As Mr. Clay has shown, 
the prices are reduced. The reason of this lies in the fact that, 
while the foreign producer had the monopoly of the American 
market, he could have his own price, with a profit often im- 
mensely great. He can, therefore, afford to reduce his prices, 
and still make a fair profit ; and just so long as he continues to 
bring his product to the American market, in competition with 
the American producer, it is morally certain that prices have 
been reduced. It will be seen, therefore, that the protective 
duty is not only not a tax on the consumer, but a positive bene- 
fit to him, to the amount of the reduction of prices. The 
theory, therefore, so long maintained, that protective duties are 
taxes on consumers, is exploded by these propositions, and by 
the facts which establish them. And yet this theory, so utterly 
false, was permitted to rule in the formation of the tariff of 
1846! 

The first proposition of the science of Public Economy on 
this point, as it now stands, and as stated above, is, that protect- 
ive duties, when not prohibitory, are not taxes on consumers, 
but reduce prices. Facts prove it, and the explanation of the 
result is found in the considerations which always govern trade. 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 439 

The foreign producer will continue to send his wares to the 
American market so long as he can make a profit ; and not only 
the protective duty, but the reduction of price beyond that, 
both come out of the former profits of the foreign producer. 
The American consumer is not taxed, but gets the same article 
at a lower price. This is an inevitable result of the laws of trade. 

Further : when the foreign producer can no longer afford to 
bring his wares to the American market, by reason of this com- 
petition, and of this reduction of prices, and the protective duty 
becomes prohibitory in its operation, it is still in favor of the 
American consumer. He is not taxed, but beuefitcd, so long 
as the prohibition arises from home competition against the 
foreign producer. If the duty be imposed expressly for prohibi- 
tion, it may be a tax on consumers, and probably will be so, 
until a domestic competition shall have reduced prices to the 
amount of the duty. Then evidently the duty is no longer a 
tax. 

It is enough, however, that protective duties, which are not 
prohibitory, are not taxes.] 

In one sentiment, Mr. President, expressed by the honorable gentleman 
from South Carolina (General Hayne), though perhaps not iu the sense 
intended by him, I entirely concur. I agree with him, that the decision 
on the system of policy embraced in this debate, involves the future des- 
tiny of this growing country. One way, I verily believe, it would lead to 
deep and general distress, general bankruptcy, and national ruin, without 
benefit to any part of the Union ; the other, the existing prosperity will be 
preserved and augmented, and the nation will continue rapidly to advance 
in wealth, power, and greatness, without prejudice to any section of the 
confederacy. 

Thus viewing the question, I stand here as the humble but zealous ad- 
vocate, not of the interests of one State, or seveu States only, but of the 
whole Union. And never before have I felt, more intensely, the over- 
powering weight of that share of responsibility which belongs to me in 
these deliberations. Never before have I had more occasion than I now 
have, to lament my want of those intellectual powers, the possession of 
which might enable me to unfold to this Senate and to illustrate to this 
people great truths, intimately connected with the lasting welfare of my 
country. I should, indeed, sink, overwhelmed and subdued, beneath the 
appalling magnitude of the task which lies before me, if I did not feel my- 
self sustained and fortified by a thorough consciousness of the justness of 
the cause which I have espoused, and by a persuasion, I hope not pre- 
sumptuous, that it has the approbation of that Providence who has so often 
smiled upon these United States. 



440 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Eight years ago, it was my painful duty to present to the other House 
of Congress an uuexaggerated picture of the general distress pervading the 
whole land. We must all yet remember some of its frightful features. 
We all know that the people were then oppressed, and borne down by an 
enormous load of debt ; that the value of property was at the lowest point 
of depression ; that ruinous sales and sacrifices were everywhere made of 
real estate ; that stop laws, and relief laws, and paper money were adopted, 
to save the people from impending destruction; that a deficit in the 
public revenue existed, which compelled government to seize upon, and 
divert from its legitmate object, the appropriations to the sinking fund, to 
redeem the national debt : and that our commerce and navigation were 
threatened with a complete paralysis. In short, sir, if I were to select any 
term of seven years since the adoption of the present Constitution which 
exhibited a scene of the most wide-spread dismay and desolation, it would 
be exactly that term of seven years which immediately preceded the estab- 
lishment of the tariff of 1824. 

I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting an imperfect 
sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled prosperity of the country. 
On a general survey, we behold cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, 
the face of the country improved, our people fully and profitably employ- 
ed, and the public countenance exhibiting tranquillity, contentment, and 
happiness. And if we descend into particulars, we have the agreeable 
contemplation of a people out of debt; land rising slowly in value, but in 
a secure and salutary degree ; a ready though not extravagant market 
for all the surplus productions of our industry ; innumerable flocks and 
herds browsing and gamboling on ten thousand hills and plains, covered 
with rich and verdant glasses ; our cities expanded, and whole villages 
springing up, as it were, by enchantment ; our exports and imports in- 
creased and increasing ; our tonnage, foreign and coastwise, swelling and 
fully occupied ; the rivers of our interior animated by the perpetual thun- 
der and lightning of countless steamboats ; the currency sound and abund- 
ant ; the public debt of two wars nearly redeemed ; and, to crown all, the 
public treasury overflowing, embarrassing Congress, not to find subjects of 
taxation, but to select the objects which shall be liberated from the impost. 
If the term of seven years were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity 
which this people have enjoyed since the establishment of their present 
Constitution, it would be exactly that period of seven years which imme- 
diately followed the passage of the tariff of 1824. 

This transformation of the condition of the country from gloom and 
distress to brightness and prosperity, has been mainly the work of Amer- 
ican legislation, fostering American industry, instead of allowing it to be 
controlled by foreign legislation, cherishing foreign industry. The foes of 
the American system, in 1824, with great boldness and confidence, predicted, 
first, the ruin of the public revenue, and the creation of a necessity to 
resort to direct taxation ; the gentleman from South Carolina (General 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 441 

Hayne), I believe, thought that the tariff of 1824 would operate a reduc- 
tion of revenue to the large amount of eight millions of dollars ; secondly, 
the destruction of our navigation ; thirdly, the desolation of commercial 
cities ; and, fourthly, the augmentation of the price of objects of consump- 
tion, aud further decline in that of the articles of our exports. Every pre- 
diction which they made has failed, utterly failed. Instead of the ruin of 
the public revenue, with which they then sought to deter us from the 
adoption of the American system, we are now threatened with its subver- 
sion, by the vast amount of the public revenue produced by that system. 
Every branch of our navigation has increased. As to the desolation of our 
cities, let us take, as an example, the condition of the largest and most 
commercial of all of them, the great northern capital. I have, in my 
hands, the assessed value of real estate in the city of New York, from 1817 
to 1831. This value is canvassed, contested, scrutinized, and adjudged, by 
the proper sworn authorities. It is, therefore, entitled to full credence. 
During the first term, commencing with 181V, and ending in the year of 
the passage of the tariff of 1824, the amount of the value of real estate 
was, the first year, fifty-seven million seven hundred and ninety-nine thous- 
and four hundred and thirty-five dollars, and, after various fluctuations in 
the intermediate period, it settled down at fifty-two million nineteen thous- 
and seven hundred and thirty dollars, exhibiting a decrease, in seven years, 
of five million seven hundred and seventy-nine thousand seven hundred 
and five dollars. During the first year, of 1825, after the passage of the 
tariff, it rose, and, gradually ascending throughout the whole of the latter 
period of seven years, it finally, in 1831, reached the astonishing height 
of ninety-five million seven hundred and sixteen thousand four hundred 
and eighty-five dollars ! Now, if it be said, that this rapid growth of the 
city of New York was the effect of foreign commerce, then it was not cor- 
rectly predicted, in 1824, that the tariff would destroy foreign commerce, 
and desolate our commercial cities. If, on the contrary, it be the effect of 
internal trade, then internal trade can not be justly chargeable with the 
evil consequences imputed to it. The truth is, it is the joint effect of both 
principles, the domestic industry nourishing the foreign trade, and the 
foreign commerce in turn nourishing the domestic industry. Nowhere 
more than in New Yoak is the combination of both principles so com- 
pletely developed. In the progress of my argument, I will consider the 
effect upon the price of commodities produced by the American system, 
and show that the very reverse of the prediction of its foes, in 1824, ac- 
tually happened. 

While we thus behold the entire failure of all that was foretold against 
the system, it is a subject of just felicitation to its friends, that all their 
anticipations of its benefits have been fulfilled, or are in progress of fulfill- 
ment. The honorable gentleman from South Carolina has made an allu- 
sion to a speech made by me, in 1824, in the other House, in support of 
the tariff, and to which, otherwise, I should not have particularly referred. 



442 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

But I would ask any one, who can now command the courage to peruse 
that long production, what principle there laid down is not true ? what 
prediction theu made has been falsified by practical experience ? 

It is now proposed to abolish the system, to which we owe so much of 
the public prosperity, and it is urged that the arrival of the period of the 
redemption of the public debt has been confidently looked to as presenting 
a suitable occasion to rid the country of the evils with which the system 
is alleged to be fraught. Not an inattentive observer of passing events, I 
have been aware that, among those who were most early pressing the pay- 
ment of the public debt, and, upon that ground, were opposing appropria- 
tions to other great interests, there were some who cared less about the 
debt than the accomplishment of other objects. But the people of the 
United States have not coupled the payment of their public debt with the 
destruction of the protection of their industry against foreign laws and 
foreign industry. They have been accustomed to regard the extinction of 
the public debt as relief from a burden, and not as the infliction of a curse. 
If it is to be attended or followed by the subvervion of the American sys- 
tem, and an exposure of our establishments and our productions to the 
unguarded consequences of the selfish policy of foreign powers, the pay- 
ment of the public debt will be the bitterest of curses. Its fruit will be 
like the fruit 

" Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste 

Brought death into the world, and all our woe, 

With loss of Eden." 

If the system of protection be founded on principles erroneous in theory, 
pernicious in practice, above all, if it be unconstitutional, as is alleged, 
it ought to be forthwith abolished, and not a vestige of it suffered to re- 
main. But before we sanction this sweeping denunciation, let us look a 
little at this system, its magnitude, its ramifications, its duration, and the 
biffh authorities which have sustained it. We shall see that its foes will 
have accomplished comparatively nothing, after having achieved their pres- 
ent aim of breaking down our iron-fouuderies, our woolen, cotton, and 
hemp manufactories, and our sugar plantations. The destruction of these 
would, undoubtedly, lead to the sacrifice of immense capital, the ruin of 
many thousands of our fellow-citizens, and incalculable loss to the whole 
community. But their prostration would not disfigure nor produce greater 
effect upon the whole system of protection, in all its branches, than the 
destruction of the beautiful domes upon the capitol would occasion to the 
magnificent edifice which they surmount. Why, sir, there is scarcely 
an interest, scarcely a vocation in society, which is not embraced by the 
beneficence of this system. 

It comprehends our coasting tonnage and trade, from which all foreign 
tonnage is absolutely excluded. 

It includes all our foreign tonnage, with the inconsiderable exception 
made by treaties of reciprocity with a few foreign powers. 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 443 

It embraces our fisheries, and all our hardy and enterprising- fishermen. 

It extends to almost every mechanic art — to tanners, cordwainers, tailors, 
cabinet-makers, hatters, tinners, brass-workers, clock-makers, coach-makers 
tallow-chandlers, trace-mikers, rope-makers, cork-cutters, tobacconists, 
whip-makers, paper-makers, umbrella-makers, glass-blowers, stocking- 
weavers, button-makers, saddle and harness-makers, cutlers, brush-makers, 
bookbinders, dairymen, milk-farmers, blacksmiths, type-founders, musical- 
instrument-makers, basket-makers, milliners, potters, chocolate-makers, floor- 
cloth-makers, bonnet-makers, hair-cloth-makers, copper-smiths, pencil- 
makers, bellows-makers, pocket-book-makers, card-makers, glue-makers, 
mustard-makers, lumber-sawyers, saw-makers, scale-beam-makers, scythe- 
makers, wood-saw-makers, and many others. The mechanics enumerated, 
enjoy a measure of protection adapted to their several conditions, varying 
from twenty to fifty per cent. The extent and importance of some of these 
artisans may be estimated by a few particulars. The tanners, curriers, boot 
and shoemakers, and other workers in hides, skins, and leather, produce 
an ultimate value per annum of forty millions of dollars ; the manufactu- 
rers of hats and caps produce an annual value of fifteen millions ; the 
cabinet-makers, twelve millions ; the manufacturers of bonnets and hats 
for the female sex, lace, artificial flowers, combs, and so forth, seven mil- 
lions ; and the manufacturers of glass, five millions. 

It extends to all lower Louisiana, the delta of which might as well be 
submerged again in the Gulf of Mexico, from which it has been a gradual 
conquest, as now to be deprived of the protecting duty upon its great 
staple. 

It affects the cotton planter himself, and the tobacco planter, both of 
whom enjoy protection. 

The total amount of the capital vested in sheep, the land to sustain 
them, wool, woolen manufactures, and woolen fabrics, and the subsistence 
of the various persons directly or indirectly employed in the growth and 
manufacture of the article of wool, is estimated at one hundred and sixty- 
seven millions of dollars, and the number of persons at one hundred and 
fifty thousand. 

The value of iron, considered as a raw material, and of its manufactures, 
is estimated at twenty-six millions of dollars per annum. Cotton goods, 
exclusive of the capital vested in the manufacture, and of the cost of the 
raw material, are believed to amount, annually, to about twenty millions 
of dollars. 

These estimates have been carefully made, by practical men of undoubted 
character, who have brought .together and embodied their information. 
Anxious to avoid the charge of exaggeration, they have sometimes placed 
their estimates below what was believed to be the actual amount of these 
interests. With regard to the quantity of bar and other iron annually pro- 
duced, it is derived from the known works themselves ; and I know some 
in western States which they have omitted in their calculations. 



444 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

Such are some of the items of this vast system of protection, which it 
is now proposed to abandon. We might well pause and contemplate, if 
human imagination could conceive the extent of mischief and ruin from 
its total overthrow, before we proceed to the work of destruction. Its dur- 
ation is worthy also of serious consideration. Not to go behind the 
Constitution, its date its coeval with that instrument. It began on the 
ever-memorable 4th day of July — the 4th day of July, 1789. The sec- 
ond act which stands recorded in the statute-book, bearinsr the illus- 
trious signature of George Washington, laid the corner-stone of the whole 
system. That there might be no mistake about the matter, it was then 
solemnly proclaimed to the American people and to the world that it was 
necessary for " the encouragement and protection of manufactures," that 
duties should be laid. It is in vain to urge the small amount of the meas- 
ure of the protection then extended. The great principle was then estab- 
lished by the fathers of the Constitution, with the father of his country at 
their liead. And it can not now be questioned, that, if the government 
had not then been new and the subject untried, a greater measure of pro- 
tection would have been applied, if it had been supposed necessary. 
Shortly after, the master minds of Jefferson and Hamilton were brought 
to act on this interesting subject. Taking views of it appertaining to the 
departments of foreign affairs and of the treasury, which they respectively 
filled, they presented, severally, reports which yet remain monuments of 
their profound wisdom, and came to the same conclusion of protection to 
American industry. Mr. Jefferson argued that foreign restrictions, foreign 
prohibitions, and foreign high duties, ought to be met at home by Amer- 
ican restrictions, American prohibitions, and American high duties. Mr. 
Hamilton, surveying the entire ground, and looking at the inherent nature 
of the subject, treated it with an ability which, if ever equaled, has not 
been surpassed, and earnestly recommended protection. 

The wars of the French Revolution commenced about this period, and 
streams of gold poured into the United States through a thousand chan- 
nels, opened or enlarged by the successful commerce which our neutrality 
enabled us to prosecute. We forgot or overlooked, in the general pros- 
perity, the necessity of encouraging our domestic manufactures. Then 
came the edicts of Napoleon, and the British orders in council; and our 
embargo, non-intercourse, non-importation, and war, followed in rapid suc- 
cession. These national measures, amounting to a total suspension, for the 
period of their duration, of our foreign commerce, afforded the most effica- 
cious encouragement to American manufactures ; and accordingly they 
everywhere sprung up. While these measures of restriction and this state 
of war continued, the manufacturers were stimulated in their enterprise by 
every assurance of support, by public sentiment, and by legislative re- 
solves. It was about that period (1808) that South Carolina bore her high 
testimony to the wisdom of the policy, in an act of her Legislature, the 
preamble of which, now before me, reads : 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 445 

" Whereas, the establishment and encouragement of domestic manufactures 
is conducive to the interests of a State, by adding new incentives to industry, 
and as being the means of disposing to advantage the surplus productions of 
the agriculturist; and whereas, in the present unexampled state of the world, 
their establishment in our country is not only expedient, but politic, in render- 
ing us independent of foreign nations." 

The Legislature, not being competent to aftbrd the most efficacious aid, 
by imposing duties on foreign rival articles, proceeded to incorporate a 
company. 

Peace, under the treaty of Ghent, returned in 1815, but there did not 
return with it the golden days which preceded the edicts leveled at our 
commerce by Great Britain and France. It found all Europe tranquilly 
resuming the arts and the business of civil life. It found Europe no longer 
the consumer of our surplus, and the employer of our navigation, but ex- 
cluding, or heavily burdening, almost all the productions of our agriculture, 
and our rivals in manufactures, in navigation, and in commerce. It found 
our country, in short, in a situation totally different from all the past — new 
and untried. It became necessary to adapt our laws, and especially our 
laws of impost, to the new circumstances in which we found ourselves. 
Accordingly, the eminent and lamented citizen, then at the head of the 
treasury (Mr. Dallas), was required, by a resolution of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, under date of the 23d of February, 1815, to prepare and 
report to the succeeding session of Congress, a system of revenue conform- 
able with the actual condition of the country. He had the circle of a 
whole year to perform the work, consulted merchants, manufacturers, and 
other practical men, and opened an extensive correspondence. The report 
which he made at the session of 1816, was the result of his inquiries and 
reflections, and embodies the principles which he thought applicable to the 
subject. It has been said, that the tariff of 1816 was a measure of mere 
revenue, and that it only reduced the war duties to a peace standard. It 
is true, that the question then was, how much and in what way should the 
double duties of the war be reduced ? Now, also, the question is, on what 
articles shall the duties be reduced so as to subject the amounts of the fu- 
ture revenue to the wants of the government ? Then it was deemed an 
inquiry of the first importance, as it should be now, how the reduction 
should be made, so as to secure proper encoux-agement to our domestic in- 
dustry. That this was a leading object in the arrangement of the tariff 
of 1816, I well remember, and it is demonstrated by the language of Mr. 
Dallas. He says, in his report : 

" There are few, if any governments, which do not regard the establishment 
of domestic manufactures as a chief object of public policy. The United States 
have always so regarded it. * * * The demands of the country, 
while the acquisitions of supplies from foreign nations was either prohibited or 
impracticable, may have afforded a sufficient inducement for this investment of 



446 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

capital, and this application of labor ; but the inducement, in its necessary ex- 
tent, must fail when the day of competition returns. Upon that change in the 
condition of the country, the preservation of the manufactures, which private 
citizens under favorable auspices have constituted the property of the nation, 
becomes a consideration of general policy, to be resolved by a recollection of 
past embarrassments ; by the certainty of an increased difficulty of reinstat- 
ing, upon any emergency, the manufactures which shall be allowed to perish and 
pass away," and so forth. 

The measure of protection which he proposed was not adopted, in regard 
to some leading articles, and there was great difficulty in ascertaining what 
it ought to have been. But the principle was then distinctly asserted and 
fully sanctioned. 

The subject of the American system was again brought up in 1820, by 
the bill reported by the chairman of the committee of manufactures, now 
a member of the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, and 
the principle was successfully maintained by the representatives of the peo- 
ple ; but the bill which they passed was defeated iu the Senate. It was 
revived in 1824, the whole ground carefully and deliberately explored, 
and the bill then introduced, receiving all the sanctions of the Constitution, 
became the law of the land. An amendment of the system was proposed 
in 1828, to the history of which I refer with no agreeable recollections. 
The bill of that year, in some of its provisions, was framed on principles 
directly adverse to the declared wishes of the friends of the policy of pro- 
tection. I have heard without vouching for the fact, that it was so framed, 
upon the advice of a prominent citizen now abroad, with the view of ulti- 
mately defeating the bill, and with assurances that, being altogether unac- 
ceptable to the friends of the American system, the bill would be lost. Be 
that as it may, the most exceptionable features of the bill were stamped 
upon it, against the earnest remonstrances of the friends of the system, by 
the votes of southern members, upon a principle, I think, as unsound in 
legislation as it is reprehensible in ethics. The bill was passed, notwith- 
standing, it having been deemed better to take the bad along with the 
good which it contained, than reject it altogether. Subsequent legislation 
has corrected the error then perpetrated, but still that measure is vehe- 
mently denounced by gentlemen who contributed to make it what it was. 

Thus, sir, has this great system of protection been gradually built, stone 
upon stone, and step by step, from the 4th of July, 1*789, down to the pres- 
ent period. In every stage of its progress it has received the deliberate 
sanction of Congress. A vast majority of the people of the United States 
has approved and continue to approve it. Every chief magistrate of the 
United States, from Washington to the present, in some form or other, has 
given to it the authority of his name ; and, however the opinions of the 
existing president are interpreted south of Mason and Dixon's line, on the 
north they are at least understood to favor the establishment of a judicious 
tariff. 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 447 

The question, therefore, which we are now called upon to determine, is 
not, whether we shall establish a new and doubtful system of policy, just 
proposed, and for the first time presented to our consideration, but whether 
we shall break down and destroy a long established system, patiently and 
carefully built up and sanctioned, during a series of years, again and again, 
by the nation and its highest and most revered authorities. And are we 
not bound deliberately to consider whether we can proceed to this work of 
destruction without a violation of the public faith ? The people of the 
United States have justly supposed that the policy of protecting their in- 
dustry against foreign legislation and foreign industry was fully settled, 
not by a single act, but by repeated and deliberate acts of government, 
performed at distant and frequent intervals. In full confidence that the 
policy was firmly and unchangeably fixed, thousands upon thousands have 
invested then- capital, purchased a vast amount of real and other estate, 
made permanent establishments, and accommodated their industry. Can 
we expose to utter and irretrievable ruin this countless multitude, without 
justly incurring the reproach of violating the national faith ? 

I shall not discuss the constitutional question. Without meaning any 
disrespect to those who raise it, if it be debatable, it has been sufficiently 
debated. The gentleman from South Carolina suffered it to fall unnoticed 
from his budget ; and it was not until after he had closed his speech and 
resumed his seat, that it occurred to him that he had forgotten it, when he 
again addressed the Senate, aud, by a sort of protestation against any con- 
clusion from his silence, put forward the objection. The recent free-trade 
convention at Philadelphia, it is well known, were divided on the question ; 
and although the topic is noticed in their address to the public, they do 
not avow their own belief that the American system is unconstitutional, 
but represent that such is the opinion of respectable portions of the Amer- 
ican people. Another address to the people of the United States, from a 
high source, during the past year, treating this subject, does not assert the 
opinion of the distinguished author, but states that of others to be, that it 
is unconstitutional. From which I infer that he did not himself believe it 
to be unconstitutional. 

[Here the Vice-president * interposed, and remarked, that, if the senator 
from Kentucky alluded to him, he must say that his opinion was, that the meas- 
ure w r as unconstitutional.] 

When, sir, I contended with you, side by side, and with perhaps less 
zeal than you exhibited, in 1816, 1 did not understand you then to consider 
the policy forbidden by the constitution. 

[The Vice-president again interposed, and said that the Constitutional ques- 
tion was not debated at that time, and that he had never expressed an opinion 
contrary to that now intimated.] 

* Mr. Calhoun. 



448 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

I give way with pleasure to these explanations, which I hope will al- 
ways be made when I say any thing bearing on the individual opinions of 
the chair. I know the delicacy of the position, and sympathize with the 
incumbent, whoever he may be. It is true, the question was not debated 
in 1816 ; and why not? Because it was not debatable ; it was then be- 
lieved not fairly to arise. It never has been made as a distinct, substantial, 
and leading point of objection. It never was made until the discussion of 
the tariff of 1824, when it was rather hinted at as against the spirit of the 
Constitution, than formally announced as being contrary to the provisions 
of that instrument. What was not dreamed of before, or in 1816, and 
scarcely thought of in 1824, is now made, by excited imaginations, to as- 
sume the imposing form of a serious constitutional barrier. 

Such are the origin, duration, extent, and sanctions of the policy which 
we are now called upon to subvert. Its beneficial effects, although they 
may vary in degree, have been felt in all parts of the Union. To none, 
I verily believe, has it been prejudicial. In the North, everywhere, testi- 
monials are borne to the high prosperity which it has diffused. There, all 
branches of industry are animated and flourishing. Commerce, foreign and 
domestic, active ; cities and towns springing up, enlarging and beautifying ; 
navigation fully and profitably employed, and the whole face of the coun- 
try smiling with improvement, cheerfulness, and abundance. The gentle- 
man from South Carolina has supposed that we in the West derive no 
advantages from this system. He is mistaken. Let him visit us, and he 
will find, from the head of La Belle Riviere, at Pittsburg, to America, at 
its mouth, the most rapid and gratifyiug advances. He will behold Pitts- 
burg itself, Wheeling, Portsmouth, Maysville, Cincinnati, Louisville, and 
numerous other towns, lining and ornamenting the banks of the noble 
river, daily extending their limits, and prosecuting, with the greatest spirit 
and profit, numerous branches of the manufacturing and mechanic arts. 
If he will go into the interior, iu the State of Ohio, he will there perceive 
the most astonishing progress in agriculture, in the useful arts, and in all 
the improvements to which they both directly conduce. Then let him 
cross over into my own, my favorite State, and contemplate the spectacle 
which is there exhibited. He will perceive numerous villages, not large, 
but neat, thriving, and some of them highly ornamented ; many manufac- 
tories of hemp, cotton, wool, and other articles. In various parts of the 
country, and especially in the Elkhorn region, an endless succession of 
natural parks ; the forests thinned ; fallen trees and undergrowth cleared 
away ; large herds and flocks feeding on luxuriant grasses ; and interspersed 
with comfortable, sometimes elegant mansions, surrounded by extensive 
lawns. The honorable gentleman from South Carolina says, that a profit- 
able trade was carried on from the West, through the Seleuda gap, in 
mules, horses, and other live stock, which has been checked by the opera- 
tion of the tariff. It is true that such a trade was carried on between 
Kentucky and South Carolina, mutually beneficial to both parties; but, 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 449 

several years ago, resolutions, at popular meetings, in Carolina, were 
adopted, not to purchase the produce of Kentucky, by way of punishment 
for her attachment to the tariff. They must have supposed us as stupid as 
the sires of one of the descriptions of the stock of which that trade con- 
sisted, if they imagined that their resolutions would affect our principles. 
Our drovers cracked their whips, blew their horns, and passed the Scleuda 
gap to other markets, where better humor existed, and equal or greater 
profits were made. I have heard of your successor in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, Mr. President, this anecdote : that he joined in the adoption 
of those resolutions, but when, about Christmas, he applied to one of his 
South Carolina neighbors, to purchase the regular supply of pork for the 
ensuing year, he fouud that he had to pay two prices for it ; and he de- 
clared, if that were the patriotism on which the resolutions were based, he 
would not conform to them, and, in point of fact, laid in his annual stock 
of pork by purchase from the first passing Kentucky drover. The trade, 
now partially resumed, was maintained by the sale of western productions, 
on the one side, and Carolina money on the other. From that condition 
of it the gentleman from South Carolina might have drawn this conclusion, 
that an advantageous trade may exist, although one of the parties to it 
pays in specie for the production which he purchases from the other ; and 
consequently that it does not follow, if we did not purchase British fabrics, 
that it might not be the interest of England to purchase our raw material 
of cotton. The Kentucky drover received the South Carolina specie, or, 
taking bills, or the evidences of deposit in the banks, carried these home, 
and disposing of them to the merchant, he brought out goods, of foreign 
or domestic manufacture, in return. Such is the circuitous nature of trade 
and remittance, which no nation understands better than Great Britain. 

Nor has the system which has been the parent source of so much bene- 
fit to other parts of the Union, proved injurious to the cotton-growing 
country. I can not speak of South Carolina itself, where I have never 
been, with so much certainty ; but of other portions of the Union in which 
cotton is grown, especially those bordering on the Mississippi, I can con- 
fidently speak. If cotton-planting is less profitable than it was, that is the 
result of increased production ; but I believe it to be still the most profit- 
able investment of capital of any branch of business in the United States. 
And if a committee was raised, with power to send for persons and papers, 
I take it upon myself to say, that such would be the result of the inquiry. 
In Kentucky, I know many individuals who have their cotton plantations 
below, and retain their residence in that State, where they remain during 
the sickly season ; and they are all, I believe, without exception, doing well. 
Others, tempted by their success, are constantly engaging in the business, 
while scarcely any come from the cotton region to engage in western 
agriculture. A friend, now in my eye, a member of this body, upon a cap- 
ital of less than seventy thousand dollars, invested in a plantation and 
slaves, made, the year before last, sixteen thousand dollars. A member of 

29 



450 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

the other House, I understand, who, without removing himself, sent some 
of his slaves to Mississippi, made last year about twenty per cent. Two 
friends of mine, in the latter State, whose annual income is from thirty to 
sixty thousand dollars, being desirous to curtail their business, have offered 
estates for sale which they are willing to show, by regular vouchers of re- 
ceipt and disbursement, yield eighteen per cent, per annum. One of my 
most opulent acquaintances, in a county adjoining that in which I reside, 
having married in Georgia, has derived a large portion of his wealth from 
a cotton estate there situated. 

The loss of the tonnage of Charleston, which has been dwelt on, does 
not proceed from the tariff; it never had a very large amount, and it has 
not been able to retain what it had, in consequence of the operation of the 
principle of free trade on its navigation. Its tonnage has gone to the more 
enterprising and adventurous tars of the northern States, with whom those 
of the city of Charleston could not maintain a successful competition, in 
the freedom of the coasting trade existing between the different parts of 
the Union. That this must be the true cause, is demonstrated by the fact, 
that, however it may be with the port of Charleston, our coasting tonnage, 
generally, is constantly increasing. As to the foreign tonnage, about one 
half of that which is engaged in the direct trade between Charleston and 
Great Britain, is English ; proving that the tonnage of South Carolina can 
not maintain itself in a competition, under the free and equal navigation 
secured by our treaty with that power. 

When gentlemen have succeeded in their design of an immediate or grad- 
ual destruction of the American system, what is their substitute ? Free 
trade ! Free trade ! The call for free trade is as unavailing, as the cry 
of a spoiled child in its nurse's arms, for the moon, or the stars that glitter 
in the firmament of heaven. It never has existed, it never will exist. 
Trade implies at least two parties. To be free, it should be fair, equal, and 
reciprocal. But if we throw our ports wide open to the admission of 
foreign productions, free of all duty, what ports of any other foreign nation 
shall we find open to the free admission of our surplus produce ? We may 
break down all barriers to free trade on our part, but the work will not be 
complete, until foreign powers shall have removed theirs. There would 
be freedom on one side, and restriction, prohibitions, and exclusions, on the 
other. The bolts and the bars and the chains of all other nations will 
remain undisturbed. It is, indeed, possible, that our industry and com- 
merce would accommodate themselves to this unequal and unjust state of 
things ; for, such is the flexibility of our nature, that it bends itself to all 
circumstances. The wretched prisoners incarcerated in a jail, after a long 
time, becomes reconciled to his solitude, and regularly notches down the 
passing davs of his confinement. 

Gentlemen deceive themselves. It is not free trade that they are recom- 
mending to our acceptance. It is, in effect, the British colonial system 
that we are invited to adopt ; and, if their policy prevail, it will lead sub- 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 451 

stantially to the recolonization of these States under the commercial do- 
minion of Great Britain. And whom do we find some of the principal 
supporters, out of Congress, of this foreign system ? Mr. President, there 
are s ome fo reigners who always remain exotics, and never become natural- 
ized in our country ; while happily, there are many others who readily 
attach themselves to our principles and our institutions. The honest, 
patient, and industrious German, readily unites with our people ; estab- 
lishes himself upon some of our fat lands, fills his capacious barn, and en- 
joys in tranquillity the abundant fruits which his diligence gathers around 
him ; always ready to fly to the standard of his adopted country, or of its 
laws, when called by the duties of patriotism. The gay, the versatile, the 
philosophic Frenchman, accommodating himself cheerfully to all the vicissi- 
tudes of life, incorporates himself without difficulty, in our society. But, 
of all foreigners, none amalgamate themselves so quickly with our people 
as the natives of the Emerald isle. In some of the visions which have pass- 
ed through my imagination, I have supposed that Ireland was originally 
part and parcel of this continent, and that by some extraordinary convul- 
sion of nature, it was torn from America, and, drifting across the ocean, 
was placed in the unfortunate vicinity of Great Britain. The same open- 
heartedness ; the same generous hospitality ; the same careless and uncal- 
culating indifference about human life ; characterize the inhabitants of both 
countries. Kentucky has been sometimes called the Ireland of America. > 
And I have no doubt, that if the current of emigration were reversed, and 
set from America upon the shores of Europe instead of bearing from Eu- 
rope to America, every American emigrant to Ireland would there find, as 
every Irish emigrant here finds, a hearty welcome and a happy home ! 

But sir, the gentleman to whom I am about to allude, although long a 
resident of this country, has no feelings, no attachments, no sympathies, no 
principles, in common with our people. Nearly fifty years ago, Pennsyl- 
vania took him to her bosom, and warmed, and cherished, and honored 
him ;* and how does he manifest his gratitude ? By aiming a vital blow at 
a system endeared to her by a thorough conviction that it is indispensable 
to her prosperity. He has filled, at home and abroad, some of the highest 
offices under this government, during thirty years, and he is still at heart 
an alien. The authority of his name has been invoked, and the labors of 
his pen, in the form of a memorial to Congress, have been engaged, to 
overthrow the American system, and to substitute the foreign. Go home 
to your native Europe, and there inculcate upon her sovereigns your Uto- 
pian doctrines of free trade, and when you have prevailed upon them to un- 
seal their ports, and freely admit the produce of Pennsylvania and other 
States, come back, aud we shall be prepared to become converts, and to 
adopt your faith. 

A Mr. Sarchet also makes no inconsiderable figure in the common attack 
upon our system. I do not know the man, but I understand he is an un- 

* Mr. Gallatin. 



452 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

naturalized emigrant from the island of Guernsey, situated in the channel 
which divides France and England. The principal business of the inhab- 
itants is that of driving a contraband trade with the opposite shores, and 
Mr. Sarchet, educated in that school, is, I have been told, chiefly engaged 
in employing his wits to elude the operation of our revenue laws, by intro- 
ducing articles at less rates of duty than they are justly chargeable with, 
which he effects by varying the denominations, or slightly changing their 
forms. This man, at a former session of the Senate, caused to be presented 
a memorial, signed by some one hundred and fifty pretended workers in 
iron. Of these, a gentleman made a careful inquiry and examination, and 
he ascertained that there were only about ten of the denomination repre- 
sented ; the rest were tavern-keepers, porters, merchants' clerks, hackney 
coachmen, and so forth. I have the most respectable authority, in black 
and white, for this statement. 

[Here General Hayne asked, who ? and was he a manufacturer ? Mr. Clay 
replied, Colonel Murray, of New York, a gentleman of the highest standing for 
honor, probity, and veracity ; that he did not know whether he was a manu- 
facturer or not, but the gentleman might take him as one.] 

Whether Mr. Sarchet got up the late petition presented to the Senate, 
from the journeymen tailors of Philadelphia, or not, I do not know. But 
I should not be surprised if it were a movement of his, and if we should 
find that he has cabbaged from other classes of society to swell out the 
number of signatures. 

To the facts manufactured by Mr. Sarchet, and the theories by Mr. Gal- 
latin, there was yet wanting one circumstance to recommend them to favor- 
able consideration, and that was, the authority of some high name. There 
was no difficulty in obtaining one from a British repository. The honor- 
able gentleman has cited a speech of my Lord Goderich, addressed to the 
British Parliament, in favor of free trade, and full of deep regret that old 
England could not possibly conform her practice of rigorous restriction 
and exclusion to her liberal doctrines of unfettered commerce, so earnestly 
recommended to foreign powers. Sir, I know my Lord Goderich very 
well, although my acquaintance with him was prior to his being summoned 
to the British House of Peers. We both sio-ned the convention between 
the United States and Great Britain, of 1815. He is an honorable man, 
frank, possessing but ordinary business talents, about the stature and com- 
plexion of the honorable gentleman from South Carolina, a few years older 
than he, and every drop of blood running in his veins being pure and un- 
adulterated Anglo-Saxon blood. If he were to live to the age of Methu- 
selah, he could not make a speech of such ability and eloquence as that 
which the gentleman from South Carolina recently delivered to the Senate ; 
and there would be much more fitness in my Lord Goderich making quota- 
tions from the speech of the honorable gentleman, than his quoting, as 
authority, the theoretical doctrines of my Lord Goderich. We are too 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 453 

much in the habit of looking abroad, not merely for manufactured articles, 
but for the sanction of high names to support favorite theories. I have 
seen and closely observed the British Parliament, and, without derogating 
from its justly elevated character, I have no hesitation in saying, that in 
all the attributes of order, dignity, patriotism, and eloquence, the Amer- 
ican Congress would not sutler, in the smallest degree, by a comparison 
with it. 

I dislike this resort to authority, and especially foreign and interested 
authority, for the support of principles of public policy. I would greatly 
prefer to meet gentlemen upon the broad ground of fact, of experience, and 
of reason; but, since they will appeal to British names and authority, I 
feel myself compelled to imitate their bad example. Allow me to quote 
from a speech of a member of the British Parliament, bearing the same 
family name with my Lord Goderich, but whether or not a relation of his, 
I do not know. The member alluded to, was arguing against the violation 
of the treaty of Methuen — that treaty not less fatal to the interests of 
Portugal than would be the system of gentlemen to the best interests of 
America — and he went on to say : 

" It was idle for us to endeavor to persuade other nations to join with us in 
adopting the principles of what was called ' free trade.' Other nations knew, as 
well as the noble lord opposite, and those who acted with him, what we meant 
by ' free trade,' was nothing more nor less than, by means of the great advan- 
tages we enjoyed, to get a monopoly of all their markets for our manufactures, 
and to prevent them, one and all, from ever becoming manufacturing nations. 
When the system of reciprocity and free trade had been proposed to a French 
embassador, his remark was, that the plan was excellent in theory, but, to make 
it fair in practice, it would be necessary to defer the attempt to put it in execu- 
tion for half a century, until France should be on the same footing with Great 
Britain, in marine, in manufactures, in capital, and the many other peculiar ad- 
vantages which it now enjoyed. The policy that France acted on was that of 
encouraging its native manufactures, and it was a wise policy ; because, if it 
were freely to admit our manufactures, it would speedily be reduced to the rank 
of an agricultural nation ; and, therefore, a poor nation, as all must be that de- 
pend exclusively upon agriculture. America acted, too, upon the same princi- 
ple with France. America legislated for futurity — legislated for an increasing 
population. America, too, was prospering under this system. In twenty 
years, America would be independent of England for manufactures altogether. 
* * * But since the peace, France, Germany, America, and all the other 
countries of the world, had proceeded upon the principle of encouraging and 
protecting native manufactures." 

But I have said that the system nominally called "free trade," so 
earnestly and eloquently recommended to our adoption, is a mere revival 
of the British colonial system, forced upon us by Great Britain during the 
existence of our colonial vassalage. The whole system is fully explained 
and illustrated in a work published as far back as the year 1750, entitled 
" The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Considered, by Joshua Gee," 



454 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

with extracts from which I have been furnished by the diligent researches 
of a friend. It will be seen from these, that the South Carolina policy now 
is identical with the long-cherished policy of Great Britain, which remains 
the same as it was when the thirteen colonies were part of the British 
empire. In that work the author contends : 

" First, that manufactures, in American colonies, should be discouraged or 
prohibited. 

" Great Britain, with its dependencies, is doubtless as well able to subsist 
within itself, as any nation in Europe. We have an enterprising people, fit for 
all the arts of peace and war. We have provisions in abundance, and those of 
the best sort, and are able to raise sufficient for double the number of inhabit- 
ants. We have the very best materials for clothing, and want nothing, either 
for use, or even for luxury, but what we have at home, or might have from our 
colonies ; so that we might make such an intercourse of trade among ourselves, 
or between us and them, as would maintain a vast navigation. But we ought 
always to keep a watchful eye over our colonies, to restrain thorn from setting 
up any of the manufactures which are carried on in Great Britain ; and any 
such attempts should be crushed in the beginning; for if they are suf- 
fered to grow up to maturity, it will be difficult to suppress them. Pages 
177, 178, 179. 

" Our colonies are much in the same state Ireland was in, when they began 
the woolen manufactory, and as their numbers increase, will fall upon manu- 
factures for clothing themselves, if due care be not taken to find employment 
for them, in raising such productions as may enable them to furnish themselves 
with all their necessaries from us." 

Then it was the object of the British economists to adapt the means or 
wealth of the colonists to the supply required by their necessities, and to 
make the mother country the source of that supply. Now it seems the 
policy is only so far to be reversed, that we must continue to import nec- 
essaries from Great Britain, in order to enable her to purchase raw cotton 
from us. 

" I should, therefore, think it worthy the care of the government, to endeav- 
or, by all possible means, to encourage them in raising silk, hemp, flax, iron 
[only pig, to be hammered in England], potash, and so forth, by giving them 
competent bounties in the beginning, and sending over judicious and skillful 
persons at the public charge, to assist and instruct them in the most proper 
methods of management, which, in my apprehension, would lay a foundation 
for establishing the most profitable trade of any we have. And considering the 
commanding situation of our colonies along the sea-coast, the great convenience 
of navigable rivers in all of them, the cheapness of land, and the easiness of 
raising provisions, great numbers of people would transport themselves thither, 
to settle upon such improvements. Now, as people have been filled with fears 
that the colonies, if encouraged to raise rough materials, would set up for them- 
selves, a little regulation would remove all those jealousies out of the way. 
They have never thrown or wove any silk, as yet, that we have heard of. 
Therefore if a law was made to prohibit the use of every throwster's mill, of 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 455 

doubling or hosliug silk with any machine whatever, they would then send it 
to us raw. And as they will have the providing rough materials to themselves, 
so shall we have the manufacturing of them. If encouragement be given for 
raising hemp, flax, and so forth, doubtless they Will soon begin to manufacture, 
if not prevented. Therefore, to stop the progress of any such manufacture, it, 
is proposed, that no weaver shall have liberty to set up any looms, without first 
registering, at an office kept for that purpose, and the name and place of abode 
of any journeyman that shall work for him. But if any particular inhabitant 
shall be inclined to have any linen or woolen made of their own spinning, 
they should not be abriged of the same liberty that they now make use of^ 
namely, to carry to a weaver (who shall be licensed by the governor), and 
have it wrought up for the use of the family, but not to be sold to any 
person in a private manner, nor exposed to any market or fair, upon pain of 
forfeiture. 

" And, inasmuch as they have been supplied with all their manufactures from 
hence, except what is used in building of ships, and other country work, one 
half of our exports being supposed to be in nails — a manufacture which they 
allow has never hitherto been carried on among them — it is proposed they shall, 
for time to come, never erect the manufacture of any, under the size of a two- 
shilling nail, horse-nails excepted ; that all slitting mills and engines, for drawing 
wire, or weaving stockings, be put down, and that every smith who keeps a 
common forge or shop, shall register his name and place of abode, and the name 
of every servant which he shall employ, which license shall be renewed once 
every year, and pay for the liberty of working at such trade. That all negroes 
shall be prohibited from weaving either linen or woolen, or spinning or comb- 
ing of wool, or working at any manufacture of iron, further than making it into 
pig or bar iron. That they also be prohibited from manufacturing hats, stock- 
ings, or leather of any kind. This limitation will not abridge the planters of any 
privilege they now enjoy. On the contrary, it will turn their industry to pro- 
moting and raising those rough materials." 

The author then proposes, that the board of trade and plantations should 
be furnished with statistical accounts of the various permitted manufac- 
tures, to enable them to encourage or depress the industry of the colonists, 
and prevent the danger of interference with British industry. 

" It is hoped that this method would allay the heat that some people have 
shown for destroying the iron-works on the plantations, and pulling down all 
their forges, taking away, in a violent manner, their estates and properties, pre- 
venting the husbandmen from getting their plowshares, carts, and other utensils 
mended, destroying the manufacture of ship-building, by depriving them of the 
liberty of making bolts, spikes, and other things proper for carrying on that 
work, by which article returns are made for purchasing our woolen manufac- 
tures." Pages 87, 88, 89. 

Such is the picture of colonists dependent upon the mother country for 
their necessary supplies, drawn by a writer who was not among the num- 
ber of those who desired to debar them the means of buildino- a vessel, 
erecting a forge, or mending a plowshare, but who was willing to promote 



456 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

their growth and prosperity as far as was consistent with the paramount 
iuterests of the manufacturing or parent state. 

" Secondly, the advantages to Great Britain, from keeping the colonists de- 
pendent on her for their essential supplies. 

" If we examine into the circumstanstances of the inhabitants of our planta- 
tions, and our own, it will appear, that not one fourth part of their product re- 
dounds to their own profit ; for, out of all that comes here, they only carry 
back clothing, and other accommodations for their families, all of which is of the 
merchandise and manufacture of this kingdom." 



"o 



After showing how this system tends to concentrate all the surplus of 
acquisition over absolute expenditure in England, he says : 

" All these advantages we receive by the plantations, besides the mortgages 
on the planters' estates, and the high interest they pay us, which is very con- 
siderable ; and therefore very great care ought to be taken in regulating all the 
affairs of the colonists, that the planters be not put under too many difficulties, 
but encouraged to go on cheerfully. 

" New England, and the northern colonies, have not commodities and pro- 
ducts enough to send us, in return, for purchasing their necessary clotliing, but 
are under very great difficulties, and therefore any ordinary sort sell with 
them. And when they have grown out of fashion with us, they are new-fash- 
ioned enough there." 

Sir, I can not go on with this disgusting detail. Their refuse goods, 
their old shop-keepers, their cast-off clothes good enough for us ! Was 
there ever a scheme more artfully devised, by which the energies and 
faculties of one people should be kept down, and rendered subservient to 
the pride, and the pomp, and the power of another ? The system then 
proposed differs only from that which is now recommended in one partic- 
ular — that was intended to be enforced by power ; this would not be less 
effectually executed by the force of circumstances. A gentleman in Boston 
(Mr. Lee), the agent of the free-trade convention, from whose exhaustless 
mint there is a constant issue of reports, seems to envy the blessed condi- 
tion of dependent Canada, when compared to the oppressed state of this 
Union ; and it is a fair inference from the view which he presents, that he 
would have us hasten back to the golden days of that colonial bondage, 
which is so well depicted in the work from which I have been quoting. 
Mr. Lee exhibits two tabular statements, in one of which he presents the 
high duties which he represents to be paid in the ports of the L T nited 
States, and in the other, those which are paid in Canada, generally about 
two per centum ad valorem. But did it not occur to him, that the duties 
levied in Canada are paid chiefly in British manufactures, or on articles 
passing from one part to another of a common empire ? and that, to pre- 
sent a parallel case in the United States, he ought to have shown, that im- 
portations made into one State from another, which are now free, are sub- 
ject to the same or higher duties than are paid in Canada ? 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 457 

I will now, Mr. President, proceed to a more particular consideration of 
the arguments urged against the protective system, and an inquiry into its 
practical operation, especially on the cotton-growing country. And as 1 
wish to stale and meet the argument fairly, I invite the correction of my 
statement of it, if necessary. It is alleged that the system operates prej- 
udicially to the cotton planter, by diminishing the foreign demand for his 
staple ; that we can not sell to Great Britain unless we buy from her ; 
that the import duty is equivalent to an export duty, and falls upon the 
cotton grower ; that South Carolina pays a disproportionate quota of the 
public revenue ; that an abandonment of the protective policy would lead 
to an augmentation of our exports, of an amount not less than one hun- 
dred and fifty millions of dollars ; and, finally, that the South can not 
partake of the advantages of manufacturing, if there be any. Let us 
examine these various propositions in detail. First, that the foreign demand 
for cotton is diminished, and that we can not sell to Great Britain unless 
we buy from her. The demand of both our great foreign customers, is 
constantly and annually increasing. It is true, that the ratio of the in- 
crease may not be equal to that of production ; but this is owing to the 
fact, that the power of producing the raw material is much greater, and is, 
therefore, constantly in advance of the power of consumption. A single 
fact will illustrate. The average produce of laborers engaged in the culti- 
vation of cotton, may be estimated at five bales, or fifteen hundred weight 
to the hand. Supposing the annual average consumption of each indivi- 
dual who uses cotton cloth, to be five pounds, one hand can produce enough 
of the raw material to clothe three hundred. 

The argument comprehends two errors, one of fact and the other of 
principle. It assumes that we do not in fact purchase of Great Britain. 
What is the true state of the case ? There are certain, but very few articles 
which it is thought sound policy requires that we should manufacture at 
home, and on these the tariff operates. But with respect to all the rest, 
and much the larger number of articles of taste, fashion, and utility, they 
are subject to no other than revenue duties, and are freely introduced. I 
have before me from the Treasury a statement of our imports from En- 
gland, Scotland, and Ireland, including ten years, preceding the last, and 
three quarters of the last year, from which it will appear that, although 
there are some fluctuations in the amount of the different years, the 
largest amount imported in any one year has been since the tariff of 1824, 
and that the last year's importation, when the returns of the fourth quarter 
shall be received, will probably be the greatest in the whole term of eleven 
years. 

Now, if it be admitted that there b a less amount of the protected 
articles imported from Great Britain, she may be, and probably is, com- 
pensated for the deficiency, by the increased consumption in America of 
the articles of her industry not falling within the scope of the policy of 
our protection. The establishment of manufactures among us excites the 



458 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

creation of wealth, and this gives new powers of consumption, wliich are 
gratified by the purchase of foreign objects. A poor nation can never be 
a great consuming nation. Its poverty will limit its consumption to bare 
subsistence. 

The erroneous principle which the argument includes, is, that it de- 
volves on us the duty of taking care that Great Britain shall be enabled to 
purchase from us without exacting from Great Britain the corresponding 
duty. If it be true on one side that nations are bound to shape their 
policy in reference to the ability of foreign powers, it must be true on both 
sides of the Atlantic. And this reciprocal obligation ought to be em- 
phatically regarded toward the nation supplying the raw material, by the 
manufacturing nation, because the industry of the latter gives four or five 
values to what had been produced by the industry of the former. 

But, does Great Britain practice toward us upon the principles which 
we are now required to observe in regard to her ? The exports to the 
United Kingdom, as appears from the same treasury statement just adverted 
to, during eleven years, from 1820 to 1831, and exclusive of the fourth 
quarter of the last year, fall short of the amouut of imports by upward 
of forty-six millions of dollars, and the total amount, when the returns of 
that quarter are received, will exceed fifty millions of dollars ! It is sur- 
prising how we have been able to sustain, for so long a time, a trade so 
very unequal. We must have been absolutely ruined by it, if the unfavor- 
able balance had not been neutralized by more profitable commerce with 
other parts of the world. Of all nations, Great Britain has the least cause 
to complain of *he trade between the two countries. Our imports from 
that single power are nearly one third of the entire amount of our import- 
ations from all foreign countries together. Great Britain constantly acts 
on the maxim of buying only what she wants and can not produce, and 
selling to foreign nations the utmost amount she can. In conformity with 
this maxim, she excludes articles of prime necessity, produced by us, equally 
if not more necessary than any of her industry which we tax, although the 
admission of those articles would increase our ability to purchase from her, 
according- to the argument of gentlemen. 

If we purchased still less from Great Britain than we do, and our con- 
ditions were reversed, so that the value of her imports from this country 
exceeded that of her exports to it, she would only then be compelled to 
do what we have so long done, and what South Carolina does, in her trade 
with Kentucky, make up for the unfavorable balance by trade with other 
places and countries. How does she now dispose of the one hundred and 
sixty millions of dollars' worth of cotton fabrics, which she annually sells ? 
Of that amount the United States do not purchase five per centum. 
What becomes of the other ninety-five per centum ? Is it not sold to 
other powers, and would not their markets remain, if ours were totally 
shut? Would she uot continue, as she now finds it her interest, to pur- 
chase the raw material from us, to supply those markets ? Would she be 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 459 

guilty of the folly of depriving herself of markets to the amount of up- 
ward of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, because we refused her 
a market for some eight or ten millions ? 

But if there were a diminution of the British demand for cotton equal 
to the loss of a market for the few British fabrics which are within the 
scope of our protective policy, the question would still remain, whether 
the cotton-planter is not amply indemnified by the creation of additional 
demand elsewhere ? With respect to the cotton -grower, it is the totality 
of the demand, and not its distribution, which affects his interests. If any 
system of policy will augment the aggregate of the demand, that system 
is favorable to his interests, although its tendency may be to vary the the- 
ater of the demand. It could not, for example, be injurious to him, if, 
instead of Great Britain continuing to receive the entire quantity of cotton 
which she now does, two or three hundred thousand bales of it were taken 
to the other side of the channel, and increased to that extent the French 
demand. It would be better for him, because it is always better to have 
several markets than one. Now if, instead of a transfer to the opposite 
side of the channel, of those two or three hundred thousand bales, they 
are transported to the northern States, can that be injurious to the cotton- 
grower ? Is it not better for him ? Is it not better to have a market at 
home, unaffected by war, or other foreign causes, for that amount of his 
staple ? 

If the establishment of American manufactures, therefore, had the sole 
effect of creating a new and an American demand for cotton, exactly to the 
same extent in which it lessened the British demand, there would be no 
just cause of complaint against the tariff. The gain in one place would 
precisely equal the loss in the other. But the true state of the matter is 
much more favorable to the cotton-grower. It is calculated that the cot- 
ton manufactories of the United States absorb at least two hundred thou- 
sand bales of cotton annually. I believe it to be more. The two ports of 
Boston and Providence alone received during the last year nearly one hun- 
dred and ten thousand bales. The amount is annually increasing. The raw 
material of that two hundred thousand bales is worth six millions, and 
there is an additional value conferred by the manufacturer of eighteen 
millions ; it being generally calculated that, in such cotton fabrics as we 
are in the habit of making, the manufacture constitutes three fourths of 
the value of the article. If, therefore, these twenty-four millions worth 
of cotton fabrics were not made in the United States, but were manufac- 
tured in Great Britain, in order to obtain them, we should have to add to 
the already enormous disproportion between the amount of our imports 
and exports, in the trade with Great Britain, the further sum of twenty- 
four millions, or, deducting the price of the raw material, eighteen mil- 
lions ! And will gentlemen tell me how it would be possible for this coun- 
try to sustain such a ruinous trade ? From all that portion of the United 
States lying north and east of James river, and west of the mountains, 



460 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Great Britian receives comparatively nothing. How would it be possible 
for the inhabitants of that largest portion of our territory, to supply them- 
selves with cotton fabrics, if they were brought from England exclusively ? 
They could not do it. But for the existence of the American manufacture 
they would be compelled greatly to curtail their supplies, if not absolutely 
to suffer iu their comforts. By its existence at home, the circle of those 
exchanges is created, which reciprocally diffuses among all who are em- 
braced within it the productions of their respective industry. The cotton- 
grower sells the raw material to the manufacturer ; he buys the iron, the 
bread, the meal, the coal, and the countless number of objects of his con- 
sumption from his fellow-citizens, and they in turn purchase his fabrics. 
Putting it upon the ground merely of supplying those with necessary 
articles who could not otherwise obtain them, ought there to be from any 
quarter an objection to the only system by which that object can be ac- 
complished ? But can there be any doubt with those who will reflect, 
that the actual amount of cotton consumed is increased by the home 
manufacture ? The main argument of gentlemen is founded upon the idea 
of mutual ability resulting from mutual exchanges. They would furnish 
an ability to foreign nations by purchasing from them, aud I, to our own 
people, by exchanges at home. If the American manufacture were discon- 
tinued, and that of England were to take its place, how would she sell the 
additional quantity of twenty-four millions of cotton goods, which we now 
make ? To us ? That has been shown to be impracticable. To other 
foreign nations ? She has already pushed her supplies to them to the ut- 
most extent. The ultimate consequence would then be, to diminish the 
total consumption of cotton, to say nothing now of the reduction of price 
that would take place by throwing into the ports of Great Britain the two 
hundred thousand bales, which, no longer being manufactured in the 
United States, would go thither. 

Second, that the import duty is equivalent to an export duty, and falls 
on the producer of cotton. 

The framers of our Constitution, by granting the power to Congress to 
lay imposts, aud prohibiting that of laying an export duty, manifested that 
they did not regard them as equivalent. Nor does the common sense of 
mankind. An export duty fastens upon, and incorporates itself with, the 
article on which it is laid. The article can not escape from it — it pursues 
and follows it, wherever the article goes ; and if, in the foreign market, the 
supply is above or just equal to the demand, the amount of the export 
duty will be a clear deduction to the exporter from the price of the arti- 
cle. But an import duty on a foreign article leaves the exporter of the 
domestic article free, first, to import specie ; secondly, goods which are 
free from the protecting duty ; or, thirdly, such goods as, being charge- 
able with the protecting duty, he can sell at home, and throw the duty 
on the consumer. 

But, it is confidently argued that the import duty falls upon the grower 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 401 

of cotton ; and the case has been put in debate, and again and again in 
conversation, of the South Carolina planter, who exports one hundred 
bales of cotton to Liverpool, exchanges them for one hundred bales of 
merchandise, and when he brings them home, being compelled to leave at 
the custom-house forty bales in the form of duties. The argument is 
founded on the assumption that a duty of forty per centum amounts to a 
subtraction of forty from the one hundred bales of merchandise. The 
first objection to it is, that it supposes a case of barter, which never occurs. 
If it be replied, that it nevertheless occurs in the operations of commerce, 
the answer would be that, since the export of Carolina cotton is chiefly 
made by New York or foreign merchants, the loss stated, if it really ac- 
crued, would fall upon them, and not upon the planter. But, to test the 
correctness of the hypothetical case, let us suppose that the duty, instead 
of forty per centum, should be one hundred and fifty, which is asserted to 
be the duty in some cases. Then, the planter would not only lose the 
whole hundred bales of merchandise, which he had gotten for his hundred 
bales of cotton, but he would have to purchase, with other means, an ad- 
ditional fifty bales, in order to enable him to pay the duties accruing on the 
proceeds of the cotton. Another answer is, that if the producer of cotton 
in America, exchanged against English fabrics, pays the duty, the producer 
of those fabrics also pays it, and then it is twice paid. Such must be the 
consequence, unless the principle is true on one side of the Atlantic, and 
false on the other. The true answer is, that the exporter of an article, if 
he invests its proceeds in a foreign market, takes care to make the invest- 
ment in such merchandise as, when brought home, he can sell with a fair 
profit ; and, consequently, the consumer would pay the original cost and 
charges, and profit. 

Third. The next objection to the American system is, that it subjects 
South Carolina to the payment of an undue proportion of the public rev- 
enue. The basis of this objection is the assumption, shown to have been 
erroneous, that the producer of the exports from this country pays the 
duty ou its imports, instead of the consumer of those imports. The 
amount which South Carolina really contributes to the public revenue, no 
more than that of any other State, can be precisely ascertained. It de- 
pends upon her consumption of articles paying duties, and we may make 
an approximation sufficient for all practical purposes. The cotton planters 
of the valley of the Mississippi with whom I am acquainted, generally ex- 
pend but one third of their income in the support of their families and 
plantations. On this subject I hold in my hands a statement from a friend 
of mine, of great accuracy, and a member of the Senate. According to 
this statement in a crop of ten thousand dollars, the expense may fluctu- 
ate between two thousand eight hundred dollars and three thousand two 
hundred dollars. Of this sum, about one fourth, from seven to eight hun- 
dred dollars, may be laid out in articles paying the protective duty ; the 
residue is disbursed for provisions, mules, horses, oxen, wages of overseer, 



462 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

etc. Estimating the exports of South Carolina at eight millions, one third 
is two millions six hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty- 
six dollars ; of which one, fourth will be six hundred and sixty-six thousand 
six hundred and sixty-six and two thirds dollars. Now, supposing the 
protecting duty to be fifty per centum, and that it all enters into the price 
of the article, the amount paid by South Carolina would only be three 
hundred and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three and one 
third dollars. But the total revenue of the United States may be stated at 
twenty millions, of which the proportion of South Carolina, whatever 
standard, whether of wealth or population, be adopted, would be about 
one million. Of course on this view of the subject, she actually pays 
only about one third of her fair and legitimate share. I repeat, that I 
have no personal knowledge of the habits of actual expenditure in South 
Carolina ; they may be greater than I have stated, in respect to other parts 
of the cotton country ; but if they are, that fact does not arise from any 
defect in the system of public policy. 

Fourth. An abandonment of the American system, it is urged, would 
lead to an addition to our exjjorts of one hundred and fifty millions of dol- 
lars. The amount of one hundred and fiftv millions of cotton, in the raw 
state, would produce four hundred and fifty millions in the manufactured 
state, supposing no greater measure of value be communicated, in the 
manufactured form, than that which our industry imparts. Now, sir, 
where would markets be found for this vast addition to the supply? Not 
in the United States, certainly, nor in any other quarter of the globe, En- 
gland having already everywhere pressed her cotton manufactures to the 
utmost point of repletion. We must look out for new worlds, seek for new 
and unknown races of mortals, to consume this immense increase of cotton 
fabrics. 

[General Hayne said, that he did not mean that the increase of one hundred 
and fifty millions to the amount of our exports would be of cotton alone, but of 

other articles.] 

What other articles ? Agricultural produce — bread-stuffs, beef and pork, 
and so forth ? Where shall we find markets for them ? Whither shall we 
go ? To what country, whose ports are not hermetically sealed against 
their admission ? Break down the home market and you are without re- 
source. Destroy all other interests in the country, for the imaginary pur- 
pose of advancing the cotton-planting interest, and you inflict a positive 
injury, without the smallest practical benefit to the cotton planter. Could 
Charleston, or the whole South, when all other markets are prostrated, or 
shut against the reception of the surplus of our farmers, receive that sur- 
plus ? Would they buy more than they might want for their own con- 
sumption ? Could they find markets which other parts of the Union could 
not ? Would gentlemen force the freemen of all north of James river, east 
and west, like the miserable slave, on the Sabbath day, to repair to Charles- 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 463 

ton, with a turkey under his arm, or a pack upon his back, and beg the 
clerk of some English or Scotch merchant, living in his gorgeous palace, 
or rolling in his splendid coach in the streets, to exchange his " truck" for 
a bit of flannel to cover his naked wife and children ! No ! I am sure 
that I do no more than justice to their hearts, when I believe that they 
would reject what I believe to be the inevitable effects of their policy- 
Fifth. But it is contended, in the last place, that the South can not, 
from physical and other causes, engage in the manufacturing arts. I deny 
the premises, and I deny the conclusion. I deny the fact of inability ; and, 
if it existed, I deny the conclusion, that we must, therefore, break down 
our manufactures, and nourish those of foreign countries. The South pos- 
sesses, in an extraordinary degree, two of the most important elements of 
manufacturing industry — water-power and labor. The former gives to our 
whole country a most decided advantage over Great Britain. But a single 
experiment, stated by the gentleman from South Carolina, in which a faith- 
less slave put the torch to a manufacturing establishment, has discouraged 
similar enterprises. We have in Kentucky the same description of popula- 
tion, and we employ them, almost exclusively, in many of our hemp manu- 
factories. A neighbor of mine, one of our most opulent and respectable 
citizens, has had one, two, if not three, manufactories burned by incen- 
diaries ; but he persevered, and his perseverance has been rewarded with 
wealth. We found that it was less expensive to keep night-watches than 
to pay premiums for insurance, and we employed them. 

Let it be supposed, however, that the South can not manufacture ; must 
those parts of the Union which can, be therefore prevented ? Must we 
support those of foreign countries ? I am sure that injustice would be 
done to the generous and patriotic nature of South Carolina, if it were be- 
lieved that she envied or repined at the success of other portions of the 
Union in branches of industry to which she might happen not to be 
adapted. Throughout her whole career she has been liberal, national, 
hicfh-minded. 

The fiiends of the American system have been reminded by the honor- 
able gentleman from Maryland (General Smith), that they are the majority, 
and he has admonished them to exercise their power in moderation. The 
majority ought never to trample upon the feelings, or violate the just 
rights of the minority. They ought never to triumph over the fallen, nor 
to make any but a temperate and equitable use of their power. But these 
counsels come with an ill grace from the gentleman from Maryland. He, 
too, is a member of a majority — a political majority. And how has the 
administration of that majority exercised their power in this country ? Be- 
call to your recollection the 4th of March, 1829, when the lank, lean, 
famished forms, from fen and forest, and the four quarters of the Union, 
gathered together in the halls of patronage ; or stealing by evening's twi- 
light into the apartments of the president's mansion, cried out, with ghastly 
faces, and in sepulchral tones, " give us bread ! gives us treasury pap ! 



464 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

give us our reward !" England's bard was mistaken ; ghosts will some- 
times come, called or uncalled. Go to the families who were driven from 
the employments on which they were dependent for subsistence, in con- 
Bequence of their exercise of the dearest right of freemen. Go to mothers, 
while hugging to their bosoms their starving children. Go to fathers who, 
after being disqualified by long public service for any other business, were 
stripped of their humble places, and then sought, by the minions of au- 
thority, to be stripped of all that was left them — their good names — and 
ask, what mercy was shown to them ! As for myself, born in the midst of 
the Kevoluiion, the first air that I ever breathed on my native soil of Vir- 
ginia having been that of liberty and independence, I never expected just- 
ice, nor desired mercy at their hands ; and scorn the wrath and defy the 
oppression of power. 

I regret, Mr. President, that one topic has, I think, unnecessarily been 
introduced into this debate. I allude to the charge brought against the 
manufacturing system, as favoring the growth of aristocracy. If it were 
true, would gentlemen prefer supporting foreign accumulations of wealth, 
by that description of industry, rather than in their own country ? But is 
it correct ? The joint-stock companies of the North, as I understand them, 
are nothing more than associations, sometimes of hundreds, by means of 
which the small earnings of many are brought into a common stock, and 
the associates, obtaining corporate privileges, are enabled to prosecute, 
under one superintending head, their business to better advantage. Nothing 
can be more essentially democratic or better devised to counterpoise the 
influence of individual wealth. In Kentucky, almost every manufactory 
known to me, is in the hands of enterprising and self-made men, who have 
acquired whatever wealth they possess by patient and diligent labor. Com- 
parisons are odious, and but in defense would not be made by me. But is 
there more tendency to aristocracy in a manufactory, supporting hundreds 
of freemen, or in a cotton plantation, with its not less numerous slaves, 
sustaining perhaps only two white families — that of the master and the 
overseer ? 

I pass, with pleasure, from this disagreeable topic, to two general propo- 
sitions which cover the entire ground of debate. The first is, that under 
the operation of the American system, the objects which it protects and 
fosters are brought to the consumer at cheaper prices than they commanded 
prior to its introduction, or, than they would command if it did not exist. 
If that be true, ought not the country to be contented and satisfied with 
the system, unless the second proposition, which I mean presently also to 
consider, is unfounded ? And that is, that the tendency of the system is to 
sustain, and that it has upheld, the prices of all our agricultural and other 
produce, including cotton. 

And is the fact not indisputable, that all essential objects of consumption 
affected by the tariff, arc cheaper and better since the act of 1824, than 
they were for several years prior to that law ? I appeal for its truth to 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 465 

common observation, and to all practical men. I appeal to the farmer of 
the country, whether he does not purchase on better terms his iron, salt, 
brown sugar, cotton goods, and woolens, for his laboring people ? And I 
ash the cotton planter if he has not been better and more cheaply supplied 
with his cotton-bagging ? In regard to this latter article, the gentleman 
from South Carolina was mistaken, in supposing that I complained that, 
under the existing duty, the Kentucky manufacturer could not compete 
with the Scotch. The Kentuckian furnishes a more substantial and a 
cheaper article, and at a more uniform and regular price. But it was the 
frauds, the violations of law, of which I did complain ; not smuggling, in 
the common sense of that practice, which has something bold, daring, and 
enterprising in it, but mean, bare-faced cheating, by fraudulent invoices and 
false denominations. 

I plant myself upon this fact, of cheapness and superiority, as upon im- 
pregnable ground. Gentlemen may tax their ingenuity, and produce a 
thousand speculative solutions of the fact, but the fact itself will remain 
undisturbed. Let us look into some particulars. The total consumption 
of bar iron in the United States is supposed to be about one hundred and 
forty-six thousand tons, of which one hundred and twelve thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-six tons are made within the country, and the residue 
imported. The number of men employed in the manufacture is estimated 
at twenty-nine thousand two hundred and fifty-four, and the total, number 
of persons subsisted by it at one hundred and forty-six thousand two 
hundred and seventy-three. The measure of protection extended to this 
necessary article was never fully adequate until the passage of the act of 
1828; and what has been the consequence? The annual increase of 
quantity, since that period, has been in a ratio of near twenty-five per 
centum, and the wholesale price of bar iron in the northern cities was, in 
1828, one hundred and five dollars per ton; in 1829, one hundred dollars; 
in 1830, ninety dollars; and in 1831, from eighty-five to seventy-five dol- 
lars—constantly diminishing. We import very little English irou, and that 
which we do is very inferior, and only adapted to a few purposes. In in- 
stituting a comparison between that inferior article and our superior iron, 
subjects entirely different are compared. They are made by different 
processes. The English can not make iron of equal quality to ours, at a 
less price than we do. They have three classes, best-best, best, and ordi- 
nary. It is the latter which is imported. Of the whole amount imported, 
there is only about four thousand tons of foreign iron that pays the high 
duty, the residue paying only a duty of about thirty per centum, estimated 
on the prices of the importation of 1829. Our iron ore is superior to that 
of Great Britain, yielding often from sixty to eighty per centum, while 
theirs produces only about twenty-five. This fact is so well known, that I 
have heard of recent exportations of iron ore to Endand. 

It has been alleged, that bar iron, being a raw material, ought to be ad- 
mitted free, or with low duties, for the sake of the manufacturers them- 

30 



/ 



466 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

selves. But I take this to be the true principle, that if our country is 
producing a raw material of prime necessity, and with reasonable protec- 
tion, can produce it in sufficient quantity to supply our wants, that raw 
material ought to be protected, although it may be proper to protect the 
article also out of which it is manufactured. The tailor will ask protection 
for himself, but wishes it denied to the grower of wool and the manufacturer 
of broadcloth. The cotton planter enjoys protection for the raw material, 
but does not desire it to be extended to the cotton manufacurer. The ship 
builder will ask protection for navigation, but does not wish it extended to 
the essential articles which enter into the construction of his ship. Each 
in his proper vocation solicits protection, but would have it denied to all 
other interests which are supposed to come into collision with his. 

Now the duty of the statesman is, to elevate himself above these petty 
conflicts ; calmly to survey all the various interests, and deliberately to 
proportion the measures of protection to each, according to the nature 
and to the general wants of society. It is quite possible that, in the de- 
gree of protection which has been afforded to the various workers in iron, 
there may be some error committed, although I have lately read an argu- 
ment of much ability, proving that no injustice has really been done to 
them. If there be, it ought to be remedied. 

The next article to which I would call the attention of the Senate, is 
that of cotton fabrics. The success of our manufacture of coarse cottons 
is generally admitted. It is demonstrated by the fact that they meet the 
cotton fabrics of other countries in foreign markets, and maintain a suc- 
cessful competition with them. There has been a gradual increase of the 
exports of this article, which is sent to Mexico and the South American 
republics, to the Mediterranean, and even to Asia. The remarkable fact 
was lately communicated to me, that the same individual, who twenty-five 
years ago was engaged in the importation of cotton-cloth from Asia for 
American consumption, is now engaged in the exportation of coarse Amer- 
ican cottons to Asia, for Asiatic consumption ! And my honorable friend 
from Massachusetts, now in my eye (Mr. Silsbee), informed me, that on his 
departure from home, among the last orders which he gave, one was for 
the exportation of coarse cottons to Sumatra, in the vicinity of Calcutta ! 
I hold in my hand a statement, derived from the most authentic source, 
showing that the identical description of cotton cloth, which sold in 1817 
at twenty-nine cents per yard, was sold in 1819 at twenty-one cents, in 
1821 at nineteen and a half cents, in 1823 at seventeen cents, in 1825 at 
fourteen and a half cents, in 1827 at thirteen cents, in 1829 at nine cents, 
in 1830 at nine and a half cents, and in 1831 at from ten and a half to 
eleven. Such is the wonderful effect of protection, competition, and im- 
provement in skill, combined ! The year 1829 was one of some suffering 
to this branch of industry, probably owing to the principle of competition 
being pushed too far. Hence we observe a small rise in the article for the 
next two years. The introduction of calico-printing into the United 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 467 

States, constitutes an important era in our manufacturing industry. It 
commenced about the year 1825, and has since made such astonishing ad- 
vances, that the whole quantity now annually printed is but little short of 
forty millions of yards — about two thirds of our whole consumption. It is a 
beautiful manufacture, combining great mechanical skill with scientific dis- 
coveries in chemistry. The engraved cylinders for making the impression 
require much taste, and put in requisition the genius of the fine arts of 
design and engraving. Are the fine graceful forms of our fair coun- 
trywomen less lovely when enveloped in the chintzes and calicoes pro- 
duced by native industry, than when clothed in the tinsel of foreign 
drapery ? 

Gentlemen are no doubt surprised at these facts. They should not 
underrate the energies, the enterprise, and the skill of our fellow-citizens. 
I have no doubt they are every way competent to accomplish whatever 
can be effected by any other people, if encouraged and protected by the 
fostering care of our own government. Will gentlemen believe the fact, 
which I am authorized now to state, that the United States, at this time, 
manufacture one half the quantity of cotton which Great Britain did in 
1816! We possess three great advantages: first, the raw material; 
second, water-power instead of that of steam, generally used in En- 
gland ; and, third, the cheaper labor of females. In England, males 
spin with the mule and weave ; in this country, women and girls spin with 
the throstle, and superintend the power-loom. And can there be any em- 
ployment more appropriate ? Who has not been delighted with contem- 
plating the clock-work regularity of a large cotton manufactory ? I have 
often visited them at Cincinnati and other places, and always with increased 
admiration. The women, separated from the other sex, work in apart- 
ments, large, airy, well w^armed, and spacious. Neatly dressed, with ruddy 
complexions, and happy countenances, they watch the work before them, 
mend the broken threads, and replace the exhausted balls or broaches. 
At stated hours they are called to their meals, and go and return with 
light and cheerful step. At night they separate, and repair to their re- 
spective houses, under the care of a mother, guardian, or friend. " Six 
days shalt thou labor and do all that thou hast to do, but the seventh day 
is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." Accordingly, we behold them on that 
sacred day, assembled together in His temples, and in devotional attitudes 
and with pious countenances offering their prayers to heaven for all its 
blessings ; of which it is not the least, that a system of policy has been 
adopted by their country, which admits of their obtaining a comfortable 
subsistence. Manufactures have brought into profitable employment 
a vast amount of female labor, which, without them, would be lost to the 
country. 

In respect to woolens, every gentleman's own observation and experience 
will enable him to judge of the great reduction of price which has taken 
place in most of these articles, since the tariff of 1824. It would have 



468 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

been still greater, but for the high duty on the raw material, imposed for 
the particular benefit of the farming interest. But, without going into 
particular details, I shall limit myself to inviting the attention of the Senate 
to a single article of general and necessary use. The protection given to 
flannels in 1828 was fully adequate. It has euabled the American manu- 
facturer to obtain complete possession of the American market ; and now 
let us look at the effect. I have before me a statement from a highly re- 
spectable mercantile house, showing the price of four descriptions of flannel 
during six years. The average price of them, in 1826, was thirty-eight 
cents and three quarters; in 1827, thirty-eight ; in 1828 (the year of 
the tariff), forty-six ; in 1829, thirty-six ; in 1830 (notwithstanding the 
advance in the price of wool), thirty-two ; and in 1831, thirty-two and 
one quarter. These facts require no comments. I have before me another 
statement of a practical and respectable man, well versed in the flannel 
manufacture in America and England, demonstrating that the cost of manu- 
facture is precisely the same in both countries ; and that, although a yard 
of flannel which would sell in England at fifteen cents, would commaud here 
twenty-two, the difference of seven cents is the exact difference between the 
cost in the two countries, of the six ounces of wool contained in a yard of 
flannel. 

Brown sugar, during ten years, from 1792 to 1802, with a duty of one 
and a half cents per pound, averaged fourteen cents per pound. The same 
article, during ten years, from 1820 to 1830, with a duty of three cents, 
has averaged only eight cents per pound. Nails, with a duty of five cents 
per pound, are selling at six cents. Window glass, eight by ten, prior to 
the tariff of 1824, sold at twelve or thirteen dollars per hundred feet; it 
now sells for three dollars seventy -five cents. 

The gentleman from South Carolina, sensible of the incontestable fact 
of the very great reduction in the price of the necessaries of life, protected 
by the American system, has felt the full force of it, and has presented 
various explanations of the causes to which he ascribes it. The first is, the 
diminished production of the precious metals, in consequence of the dis- 
tressed state of the countries in which they are extracted, and the conse- 
quent increase of their value, relative to that of the commodities for which 
they are exchanged. But, if this be the true cause of the reduction of 
price, its operation ought to have been general, on all objects, and of course 
upon cotton among the rest. And, in point of fact, the diminshed price 
of that staple is not greater than the diminution of the value of other staples 
of our agriculture. Flour, which commanded some years ago, ten or twelve 
dollars per barrel, is now sold for five. The fall of tobacco has been still 
more. The kite-foot of Maryland, which sold at from sixteen to twenty 
dollars per hundred, now produces only four or five. That of Virginia has 
sustained an equal decline. Beef, pork, every article almost produced by 
the farmer, has decreased in value. Ought not South Carolina, then, to 
submit quietly to a state of things which is general, and proceeds from an 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 469 

uncontrollable cause ? Ought she to ascribe to the " accursed" tariff, what 
results from the calamities of civil and foreign war, raging in many coun- 
tries? 

But, sir, I do not subscribe to this doctrine, implicitly. I do not believe 
that the diminished production of the precious metals, if that be the fact, 
satisfactorily accounts for the fall in prices ; for I think that the augmenta- 
tion of the currency of the world, by means of banks, public stocks, and 
other facilities arising out of exchange and credit, has more than supplied 
any deficiency in the amount of the precious metals. 

It is further urged, that the restoration of peace in Europe, after the 
battle of Waterloo, and the consequent return to peaceful pursuits of large 
masses of its population, by greatly increasing the aggregate amount of 
effective labor, had a tendency to lower prices ; and undoubtedly such 
ought to have its natural tendency. The same cause, however, must also 
have operated to reduce the price of our agricultural produce, for which 
there was no longer the same demand in peace as in war; and it did so 
operate. But its influence on the price of manufactured articles, between 
the general peace of Europe in 1815, and the adoption of our tariff in 1824, 
was less sensibly felt, because, perhaps, a much larger portion of the labor, 
liberated by the disbandment of armies, was absorbed by manufactures than 
by agriculture. It is also contended, that the invention and improvement 
of labor-saving machinery, have tended to lessen the prices of manufac- 
tured objects of consumption ; and undoubtedly this cause has had some 
effect. Ought not America to contribute her quota of this cause, and has 
she not by her skill and extraordinary adaptation to the arts, in truth large- 
ly contributed to it? 

This brings me to consider what T apprehend to have been the most ef- 
ficient of all the causes in the reduction of the prices of manufactured 
articles, and that is competition. By competition, the total amount of the 
supply is increased, and by increase of the supply, a competition in the 
sale ensues, and this enables the consumer to buy at lower rates. Of all 
human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than 
that of competition. It is action and reaction. It operates between indi- 
viduals in the same nation, and between different nations. It resembles 
the meeting of the mountain torrent, grooving, by its precipitous motion, 
its own channel, and ocean's tide. Unopposed, it sweeps every thing before 
it; but, counterpoised, the waters become calm, safe, and regular. It is 
like the segments of a circle or an arch ; taken separately, each is noth- 
ing; but in their combination they produce efficacy, symmetry, and per- 
fection. By the American system this vast power has been excited in 
America, and brought into being to act in co-operation or collision with 
European industry. Europe acts within itself, and with America ; and 
America acts within itself, and with Europe. The consequence is the re- 
duction of prices in both hemispheres. Nor is it fair to argue from the 
reduction of prices in Europe, to her own presumed skill and labor ex- 



470 SPEECHES OP HENRY CLAY. 

clusively. We affect her prices, and she affects ours. This must always 
be the case, at least in reference to any articles as to which there is not a 
total non-intercourse ; and if our industry, by diminishing the demand for 
her supplies, should produce a diminution in the price of those supplies, 
it would be very unfair to ascribe that reduction to her ingenuity, instead 
of placing it to the credit of our own skill and excited industry. 

Practical men understand very well this state of the case, whether they 
do or do not comprehend the causes which produce it. I have in my 
possession a letter from a respectable merchant, well known to me, in 
which he says, after complaining of the operation of the tariff of 1828, on 
the articles to which it applies, some of which he had imported, and that 
his purchases having been made in England, before the passage of that 
tariff was known, it produced such an effect upon the English market, that 
the articles could not be resold without loss, he adds ; " for it really ap- 
pears that, when additional duties are laid upon an article, it then becomes 
lower instead of higher." This would not probably happen, where the 
supply of the foreign article did not exceed the home demand, unless upon 
the supposition of the increased duty having excited or stimulated the 
measure of the home production. 

The great law of price is determined by supply and demand. What- 
ever affects either, affects the price. If the supply is increased, the demand 
remaining the same, the price declines; if the demand is increased, the 
supply remaining the same, the price advances ; if both supply and de- 
mand are undiminished, the price is stationary, and the price is influenced i 
exactly in proportion to the degree of disturbance to the demand or supply. / 
It is, therefore, a great error to suppose that an existing or new duty 
necessarily becomes a componeut element to its exact amount of price. If 
the proportion of demand and supply are varied by the duty, either in 
augmenting the supply or diminishing the demand, or vice versa, price 
is affected to the extent of that variation. But the duty never becomes 
an integral part of the price, except in the instances where the de- 
mand and the supply remain after the duty is imposed, precisely what 
they were before, or the demand is increased, and the supply remains 
stationary. 

Competition, therefore, wherever existing, whether at home or abroad, is 
the present cause of cheapness. If a high duty excites production at home, 
and the quantity of the domestic article exceeds the amount which had been 
previously imported, the price will fall. This accounts for an extraordinary 
fact stated by a senator from Missouri. Three cents were laid as a duty 
upon a pound of lead, by the act of 1828. The price at Galena, and the 
other lead mines, afterward fell to one and a half cents per pound. Now 
it is obvious that the duty did not, in this case, enter into the price ; for it 
was twice the amount of the price. What produced the fall ? It was 
stimulated production at home, excited by the temptation of the exclusive 
possession of the home market. This state of things could not last. Men 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 471 

would not continue an unprofitable pursuit ; some abandoned tbe business, 
or tbe total quantity produced was diminished, and living prices bave been 
tbe consequence. But break down the domestic supply, place us again in 
a state of dependence on the foreign source, and can it be doubted that we 
should ultimately have to supply ourselves at dearer rates ? It is not fair 
to credit the foreign market with tbe depression of prices produced there 
by the influence of our competition. Let the competition be withdrawn, 
and their prices would instantly rise. On this subject, great mistakes are 
committed. I have seen most erroneous reasoning in a late report of Mr. 
Lee, of the free-trade convention in regard to the article of sugar. He cal- 
culates the total amount of brown sugar produced in the world, and then 
states, that what is made in Louisiana is not more than two and a half 
per centum of that total. Although this data may be questioned, let us 
assume their truth, and what might be the result ? Price being deter- 
mined by the proportions of supply and demand, it is evident that when 
the supply exceeds the demand, the price will fall. And the fall is not al- 
ways regulated by the amount of that excess. If the market at a given 
price, required five or fifty millions of hogsheads of sugar, a surplus of only 
a few hundred might materially influence the price, and diffuse itself 
throughout the whole mass. Add, therefore, the eighty or one hundred 
thousand hogsheads of Louisiana sugar to the entire mass produced in 
other parts of the world, and it can not be doubted that a material reduc- 
tion of the price of the article, throughout Europe and America, would 
take place. The Louisiana sugar substituting foreign sugar in the home 
market, to the amount of its annual produce, would force an equal amount 
of foreign sugar into other markets, which being glutted, the price would 
necessarily decline, and this decline of price would press portions of the 
foreign sugar into competition in the United States with Louisiana sugar 
the price of which would also be brought down. The fact has been in ex- 
act conformity with this theory. But now let us suppose the Louisiana 
sugar to be entirely withdrawn from the general consumption, what then 
would happen ? A new demand would be created in America for foreign 
sugar, to the extent of the eighty or one hundred thousand hogsheads 
made in Louisiana ; a less amount by that quantity would be sent to the 
European markets, and the price would consequently everywhere rise. It 
is not, therefore, those who, by keeping on duties, keep down prices, that 
tax the people, but those who, by repealing duties, would raise prices, that 
really impose burdens upon the people. 

But it is argued, that if, by the skill, experience, and perfection, which 
we have acquired in certain branches of manufacture, they can be made 
as cheap as similar articles abroad, and enter fairly into competition with 
them, why not repeal the duties as to those articles ? And why should we ? 
Assuming the truth of the supposition, the foreign article would not be 
introduced in the regular course of trade, but would remain excluded by 
the possession of the home market, which the domestic article had obtain- 



472 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ed. The repeal, therefore, would have no legitimate effect. But might 
not the foreign article be imported in vast quantities, to glut our markets, 
break down our establishments, and ultimately to enable the foreigner to 
monopolize the supply of our consumption 1 America is the greatest for- 
eicn market for European manufactures. It is that to which European at- 
tention is constantly directed. If a great house becomes bankrupt there, 
its store-houses are emptied, and the goods are shipped to America, where, 
in consequence of our auctions, and our custom-house credits, the greatest 
facilities are afforded in the sale of them. Combinations among manufac- 
turers might take place, or even the operations of foreign governments 
might be directed to the destruction of our establishments. A repeal, 
therefore, of one protecting duty, from some one or all of these causes, would 
be followed by flooding the country with the foreign fabric, surcharging 
the market, reducing the price, and a complete prostration of our manu- 
factories ; after which the foreigner would leisurely look about to indemnify 
himself in the increased prices which he would be enabled to command 
by his monopoly of the supply of our consumption. What American 
citizen, after the government had displayed this vacillating policy, would 
be again tempted to place the smallest confidence in the public faith, and 
adventure once more in this branch of industry ? 

Gentlemen have allowed to the manufacturing portions of the commu- 
nity no peace ; they have been constantly threatened with the overthrow 
of the American system. From the year 1820, if not from 1816, down 
to this time, they have been held in a condition of constant alarm and in- 
security. Nothing is more prejudicial to the great interests of a nation 
than unsettled and varying policy. Although every appeal to the national 
legislature has been responded to in conformity with the wishes and senti- 
ments of the great majority of the people, measures of protection have 
only been carried by such small majorities as to excite hopes on the one 
hand, and fears on the other. Let the country breathe, let its vast re- 
sources be developed, let its energies be fully put forth, let it have tran- 
quillity, and my word for it, the degree of perfection in the arts which it 
will exhibit, will be greater than that which has been presented, astonish- 
ing as our progress has been. Although some branches of our manufact- 
ures might, and in foreign markets now do, fearlessly contend with similar 
foreign fabrics, there are many others yet in their infancy, struggling with 
the difficulties which encompass them. We should look at the whole sys- 
tem, and recollect that time, when we contemplate the great movements of 
a nation, is very different from the short period which is allotted for the 
duration of individual life. The honorable gentleman from South Caro- 
lina well and eloquently said, in 1824, "no great interest of any couutry 
ever yet grew up in a day ; no new branch of industry can become firmly 
and profitably established but in a long course of years ; every thing, in- 
deed, great or good, is matured by slow degrees : that which attains a 
speedy maturity is of small value, and is destined to a brief existence. It 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 473 

is the order of Providence, that powers gradually developed, shall alone 
attain permanency and perfection. Thus must it be with our national in- 
stitutions, and national character itself." 

I feel most sensibly, Mr. President, how much I have trespassed upon 
the Senate. My apology is a deep and deliberate conviction, that the 
great cause under debate involves the prosperity and the destiny of the 
Union. But the best requital I can make, for the friendly indulgence 
which has been extended to me by the Senate, and for which I shall evei 
retain sentiments of lasting gratitude, is to proceed with as little delay as 
practicable, to the conclusion of a discourse which has not been more 
tedious to the Senate than exhausting to me. I have now to consider the 
remaining of the two propositions which I have already announced. That is, 

Second, that under the operation of the American system, the products 
of our agriculture command a higher price than they would do without it, 
by the creation of a home market ; and by the augmentation of wealth 
produced by manufacturing industry, which enlarges our powers of con- 
sumption both of domestic and foreign articles. The importance of the 
home market is among the established maxims which are universally rec- 
ognized by all writers and all men. However some may differ as to the 
relative advantages of the foreign and the home market, none deny to the 
latter great value and high consideration. It is nearer to us ; beyond the 
control of foreign legislation ; and undisturbed by those vicissitudes to 
which all international intercourse is more or less exposed. The most stu- 
pid are sensible of the benefit of a residence in the vicinity of a large man- 
ufactorv, or of a market town, of a good road, or of a navigable stream, 
which connects their farms with some great capital. If the pursuits of all 
men were perfectly the same, although they would be in possession of the 
greatest abundance of the particular produce of their industry, they might, 
at the same time, be in extreme want of other necessary articles of human 
subsistence. The uniformity of the general occupation would preclude all 
exchanges, all commerce. It is only in the diversity of the vocations of 
the members of a community that the means can be found for those salu- 
tary exchanges which conduce to the general prosperity. And the greater 
that diversity, the more extensive and the more animating is the circle of 
exchange. Even if foreign markets were freely and widely open to the 
reception of our agricultural produce, from its bulky nature, and the dis- 
tance of the interior, and the dangers of the ocean, large portions of it 
could never profitably reach the foreign market. But let us quit this field 
of theory, clear as it is, and look at the practical operation of the system 
of protection, beginning with the most valuable staple of our agriculture. 

In considering this staple, the first circumstance that excites our surprise 
is the rapidity with which the amount of it has annually increased. Does 
not this fact, however, demonstrate that the cultivation of it could not have 
been so very unprofitable ? If the business were ruinous, would more and 
more have annually engaged in it 2 The quantity in 1816, was eighty- 



474 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

one millions of pounds; in 1826, two hundred and four millions; and in 
1830, nearly three hundred millions! The ground of greatest surprise is, 
that it has been able to sustain even its present price with such an enor- 
mous augmentation of quantity. It could not have been done but for tfee 
combined operation of three causes, by which the consumption of cotton 
fabrics Las been greatly extended, in consequence of their reduced prices : 
first, competition ; second, the improvement of labor-saving machinery ; v 
and thirdly, the low price of the raw material. The crop of 1819, amount- 
ing to eighty-eight millions of pounds, produced twenty-one millions of 
dollars; the crop of 1823, when the amount was swelled to one hundred 
and seventy-four millions (almost double that of 1819), produced a less 
sum by more than half a million of dollars; and the crop of 1824, amount- 
ing to thirty millions of pounds less than that of the preceding year, pro- 
duced a million and a half of dollars more. 

If there be any foundation for the established law of price, supply, and 
demand, ought not the fact of this great increase of the supply to account 
satisfactorily for the alleged low price of cotton ? Is it necessary to look 
beyond that single fact to the tariff, to the diminished price of the mines 
furnishing the precious metals, or to any other cause for the solution ? 
This subject is well understood in the South, and although I can not ap- 
prove the practice which has been introduced of quoting authority, and 
still less the authority of newspapers, for favorite theories, I must ask per- 
mission of the Senate to read an article from a southern newspaper. 

[Here Mr. Clay read an article from the Charleston Gazette.] 

Let us suppose that the home demand for cotton, which has been 
created by the American system, were to cease, and that the two hundred 
thousand bales, which the home market now absorbs, were thrown into 
the glutted markets of foreign countries ; would not the effect inevitably be 
to produce a further and great reduction in the price of the article ? If 
there be any truth iu the facts and principles which I have before stated 
and endeavored to illustrate, it can not be doubted that the existence of 
American manufactures has tended to increase the demand, and extend the 
consumption of raw material ; and that, but for this increased demand, the 
price of the article would have fallen, possibly one half lower than it now 
is. The error of the opposite argument is, in assuming one thing, which 
being denied, the whole fails ; that is, it assumes that the whole labor of 
the United States would be profitably employed without manufactures. 
Now the truth is, that the system excites and creates labor, and this labor 
creates wealth, and this new wealth communicates additional ability to 
consume, which acts on all the objects contributing to human comfort and 
enjoyment. The amount of cotton imported into the two ports of Boston 
and Providence alone during the last year (and it was imported exclusively 
for the home manufacture), was one hundred and nine thousand five hun- 
dred and seventeen bales. 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 475 

On passing from that article to others of our agricultural productions, we 
Bhall find not less gratifying facts. The total quantity of flour imported 
into Boston, during the same year, was two hundred and eighty-four thou- 
sand five hundred and four barrels, and three thousand nine hundred and 
fifty-five half barrels ; of which, there were from Virginia, Georgetown, 
and Alexandria, one hundred and fourteen thousand two hundred and 
twenty-two barrels ; of Indian corn, six hundred and eighty-one thousand 
one hundred and thirty-one bushels ; of oats, two hundred and thirty-nine 
thousand eight hundred and nine bushels ; of rye, about fifty thousand 
bushels ; and of shorts, thirty-three thousand four hundred and eighty-nine 
bushels ; into the port of Providence, seventy-one thousand three hundred 
and sixty-nine barrels of flour ; two hundred and sixteen thousand six 
hundred and sixty-two bushels of Indian corn, and seven thousand seven 
hundred and seventy-two bushels of rye. And there were discharged at 
the port of Philadelphia, four hundred and twenty thousand three hundred 
and fifty-three bushels of Indian corn ; two hundred and one thousand 
eight hundred and seventy-eight bushels of wheat, and one hundred and 
ten thousand five hundred and fifty -seven bushels of rye and barley. There 
were slaughtered in Boston during the same year, 1831 (the only northern 
city from which I have obtained returns), thirty-three thousand nine hun- 
dred and twenty-two beef cattle ; fifteen thousand and four hundred 
calves ; eighty-four thousand four hundred and fifty-three sheep, and twen- 
ty-six thousand eight hundred and seventy-one swine. It is confidently 
believed, that there is not a less quantity of southern flour consumed at the 
North than eight huudred thousand barrels, a greater amount, probably, 
than is shipped to all the foreign markets of the world together. 

What would be the condition of the farming country of the United 
States — of all that portion which lies north, east, and west of James 
river, including a large part of North Carolina — if a home market did not 
exist for this immense amount of agricultural produce ? Without the 
market, where coidd it be sold ? Iu foreign markets ? If their restrictive 
laws did not exist, their capacity would not enable them to purchase and 
consume this vast addition to their present supplies, which must be thrown 
in, or thrown away, but for the home market. But their laws exclude us 
from their markets. I shall content myself by calling the attention of the 
Senate to Great Britain only. The duties in the ports of the United King- 
dom on breadstuffs are prohibitory, except in times of dearth. On rice, 
the duty is fifteen shillings sterling per hundred weight, being more than 
one hundred per centum. On manufactured tobacco it is nine shillings 
sterling per pound, or about two thousand per centum. On leaf tobacco 
three shillings per pound, or one thousand two hundred per centum. On 
lumber, and some other articles, they are from four hundred to fifteen 
hundred per centum more than on similar articles imported from British 
colonies. In the British West Indies the duty on beef, pork, hams, and 
bacon, is twelve shillings sterling per hundred, more than one hundred per 



476 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

centum on the first cost of beef and pork in the western States. And yet 
Great Britain is the power in whose behalf we are called upon to legislate, 
so that we may enable her to purchase our cotton ! — Great Britain, that 
thinks only of herself in her own legislation ! When have we experienced 
justice, much less favor, at her hands? When did she shape her legisla- 
tion in reference to the interests of any foreign power ? She is a great, 
opulent, and powerful nation ; but haughty, arrogant, and supercilious ; 
not more separated from the rest of the world by the sea that girts her 
island, than she is separated in feeling, sympathy, or friendly consideration 
of their welfare. Gentlemen, in supposing it impracticable that we should 
successfully compete with her in manufactures, do injustice to the skill and 
enterprise of their own country. Gallant as Great Britain undoubtedly 
is, we have gloriously contended with her, man to man, gun to gun, ship 
to ship, fleet to fleet, and army to army. And I have no doubt we are des- 
tined to achieve equal success in the more useful, if not nobler contest for 
superiority in the arts of civil life. 

I could extend and dwell on the long list of articles — the hemp, iron, 
lead, coal, and other items — for which a demand is created in the home 
market by the operation of the American system ; but I should exhaust 
the patience of the Senate. Where, where should we find a market for 
all these articles, if it did not exist at home ? What would be the condi- 
tion of the largest portion of our people, and of the territory, if this home 
market were annihilated ? How could they be supplied with objects of 
prime necessity ? What would not be the certain and inevitable decline 
in the price of all these articles, but for the home market ? And allow 
me, Mr. President, to say, that of all the agricultural parts of the United 
States which are benefited by the operation of this system, none are equally 
so with those which border the Chesapeake bay, the lower parts of North 
Carolina, Virginia, and the two shores of Maryland. Their facilities of 
transportation, and proximity to the North, give them decided advantages. 

But if all this reasoning were totally fallacious ; if the price of manu- 
factured articles were really higher, under the American system, than 
without it, I should still argue that high or low prices were themselves rel- 
ative — relative to the ability to pay them. It is in vain to tempt, to tan- 
talize us with the lower prices of European fabrics than our own, if we 
have nothing wherewith to purchase them. If, by the home exchanges, 
we can be supplied with necessary, even if they are dearer and worse, arti- 
cles of American production than the foreign, it is better than not to be 
supplied at all. And how would the large portion of our country, which 
I have described, be supplied, but for the home exchanges ? A poor peo- 
ple, destitute of wealth or of exchangeable commodities, has nothing to 
purchase foreign fabrics with. To them they are equally beyond their 
reach, whether their cost be a dollar or a guinea. It is in this view of the 
matter that Great Britain, by her vast wealth, her excited and protected in- 
dustry, is enabled to bear a burden of taxation, which, when compared to 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 477 

that of other nations, appears enormous, but which, when her immense 
riches are compared to theirs, is light and trival. The gentleman from 
South Carolina has drawn a lively and flattering picture of our coasts, 
bays, rivers, and harbors ; and he argues that these proclaimed the design 
of Providence, that we should be a commercial people. I agree with him. 
We differ only as to the means. He would cherish the foreign, and 
neglect the internal trade. I would foster both. What is navigation with- 
out ships, or ships without cargoes ? By penetrating the bosoms of our 
mountains, and extracting from them their precious treasures; by cultivat- 
ing the earth, and securing a home market for its rich and abundant pro- 
ducts ; by employing the water with which we are blessed ; by stimulating 
and protecting our native industry, in all its forms ; we shall but nourish 
and promote the prosperity of commerce, foreign and domestic. 

I have hitherto considered the question in reference only to a state of 
peace ; but a season of war ought not to be entirely overlooked. We have 
enjoyed nearly twenty years of peace ; but who can tell when the storm of 
war shall again break forth ? Have we forgotton, so soon, the privations 
to which not merely our brave soldiers and our gallant tars were subjected, 
but the whole community, during the last war, for the want of absolute 
necessaries ? To what an enormous price they rose ! And how inadequate 
the supply was at any price ! The statesman who justly elevates his views 
will look behind as well as forward, and at the existing state of things ; 
and he will graduate the policy, which he recommends, to the probable 
exigences w r hich may arise in the Republic. Taking this comprehensive 
range, it would be easy to show that the higher prices of peace, if prices 
were higher in peace, were more than compensated by the lower prices of 
war, during which, supplies of all essential articles are indispensable to its 
vigorous, effectual, and glorious prosecution. I conclude this part of the 
argument with the hope that my humble exertions have not been altogether 
unsuccessful in showing, 

First, that the policy which we have been considering ought to continue 
to be regarded as the genuine American system. 

Secondly, that the free trade system, which is proposed as its substitute, 
ought really to be considered as the British colonial system. 

Thirdly, that the American system is beueficial to all parts of the Union, 
and absolutely necessary to much the larger portion. 

Fourthly, that the price of the great staple of cotton, and of all our 
chief productions of agriculture, has been sustained and upheld, and a de- 
cline averted, by the protective system. 

Fifthly, that if the foreign demand for cotton has been at all diminished 
by the operation of that system, the diminution has been more than com- 
pensated in the additional demand created at home. 

Sixthly, that the constant tendency of the system, by creating competition 
among ourselves, and between American and European industry, recipro- 
cally acting upon each other, is to reduce prices of manufactured objects. 



478 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Seventhly, that in point of fact, objects within the scope of the policy 
of protection have greatly fallen in price. 

Eighthly, that if, in a season of peace, these benefits are experienced, in 
a seasorj of war, when the foreign supply might be cut off, they would be 
much more extensively felt. 

Ninthly, and finally, that the substitution of the British colonial system 
for the American system, without benefiting any section of the Union, by 
subjecting us to a foreign legislation, regulated by foreign interests, would 
lead to the prostration of our manufactories, general impoverishment, and 
ultimate ruin. 

And now, Mr. President, I have to make a few observations on a delicate 
subject, which I approach with all the respect that is due to its serious and 
grave nature. They have not, indeed, been rendered necessary by the 
speech from the gentleman from South Carolina, whose forbearance to notice 
the topic was commendable, as his argument throughout was characterized 
by an ability and dignity worthy of him, and of the Senate. The gentle- 
man made one declaration, which might possibly be misinterpreted, and I 
submit to him whether an explanation of it be not proper. The declaration, 
as reported in his printed speech, is, " The instinct of self-interest might have 
taught us an easier way of relieving ourselves from this oppression. It 
wanted but the will to have supplied ourselves with every article embraced 
in the protective system, free of duty, without any other participation on 
our part than a simple consent to receive them." 

[Here General Hayne rose and remarked that the passages which immediately 
preceded and followed the paragraph cited he thought plainly indicated his 
meaning, which related to evasion of the system, by illicit introduction of goods, 
which they were not disposed to countenance in South Carolina.] 

I am happy to hear this explanation. But, sir, it is impossible to con- 
ceal from our view the facts, that there is a great excitement in South 
Carolina ; that the protective system is openly and violently denounced in 
popular meetings ; and that the Legislature itself has declared its purpose 
of resorting to counteracting measures, a suspension of which has only 
been submitted to, for the purpose of allowing Congress time to retrace 
its steps. With respect to this Union, Mr. President, the truth can not 
be too generally proclaimed, nor too strongly inculcated, that it is neces- 
sary to the whole and to all the parts — necessary to those parts, indeed, 
in different degrees, but vitally necessary to each — and that threats to dis- 
turb or dissolve it, coming from any of the parts, would be quite as in- 
discreet and improper as would be threats from the residue to exclude 
those parts from the pale of its benefits. The great principle which lies 
at the foundation of all free governments, is, that the majority must 
govern ; from which there is or can be no appeal but to the sword. 
That majority ought to govern wisely, equitably, moderately, and consti- 
tutionally, but govern it must, subject only to that terrible appeal. If 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 479 

ever one or several States, being a minority, can, by menacing a dissolu- 
tion of the Union, succeed in forcing an abandonment of great measures, 
deemed essential to the interests and prosperity of the whole, the Union 
from that moment is practically gone. It may linger on, in form and 
name, but its vital spirit has fled forever ! Entertaining these deliberate 
opinions, I would in treat the patriotic people of South Carolina — the land 
of Marion, Sumpter, and Pickens ; of Rutledge, Laurens, the Pinckneys and 
Lowndeses ; of living and present names, which I would mention if they 
were not living or present — to pause, solemnly pause ! aud contemplate 
the frightful precipice which lies directly before them. To retreat may be 
painful and mortifying to their gallantry and pride, but it is to retreat to 
the Union, to safety, and to those brethren with whom, or with whose an- 
cestors, they, or their ancestors, have won, on fields of glory, imperishable 
renown. To advance, is to rush on certain and inevitable disgrace and 
destruction. 

We have been told of deserted castles, of uninhabited halls, and of man- 
sions, once the seats of opulence and hospitality, now abandoned and molder- 
ing in ruins. I never had the honor of being in South Carolina, but I have 
heard and read of the stories of its chivalry, and of its generous and open- 
hearted liberality. I have heard, too, of the struggles for power, between 
the lower and upper country. The same causes which existed in Vir- 
ginia, with which I have been acquainted, I presume, have had their in- 
fluence in Carolina. In whose hands now are the once proud seats of 
Westover Curl, Maycox, Shirley, and others, on James river, and in lower 
Virginia ? Under the operation of laws, abolishing the principle of primo- 
geniture, and providing the equitable rule of au equal distribution of 
estates, among those in equal degree of consanguinity, they have passed 
into other and stranger hands. Some of the descendants of illustrious 
families have gone to the far West, while others, lingering behind, have 
contrasted their present condition with that of their venerated ancestors* 
They behold themselves excluded from their fathers' houses, now in the 
hands of those who were once their fathers' overseers, or sinking into 
decay ; their imaginations paint ancient renown, the fading honors of their 
name — glories gone by ; too poor to live, too proud to work, too high- 
minded and honorable to resort to ignoble means of acquisition ; brave, 
daring, chivalrous ; what can be the cause of their present unhappy state ? 
The "accursed" tariff presents itself to their excited imaginations, and they 
blindly rush into the ranks of those who, unfurling the banner of nullifi- 
cation, would place a State upon its sovereignty ! 

The danger to our Union does not lie on the side of persistence in the 
American system, but on that of its abandonment. If, as I have supposed 
and believe, the inhabitants of all north and east of James river, and all 
west of the mountains, including Louisiana, are deeply interested in the 
preservation of that system, would they be reconciled to its overthrow ? 
Can it be expected that two thirds, if not three fourths, of the people of 



480 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the United States, would consent to the destruction of a policy, believed 
to be indispensably necessary to their prosperity ? When, too, the sacri- 
fice is made at the instance of a single interest, which they verily believe 
will not be promoted by it ? In estimating the degree of peril which may 
be incident to two opposite courses of human policy, the statesman would 
be short-sighted who should content himself with viewing only the evils, 
real or imaginary, which belong to that course which is in practical ope- 
ration. He should lift himself up to the contemplation of those greater 
and more certain daugers which might inevitably attend the adoption of 
the alternative course. What would be the condition of this Union, if 
Pennsylvania and New York, those mammoth members of our confederacy, 
were firmly persuaded that their industry was paralyzed, and their pros- 
perity blighted, by the enforcement of the British colonial system, under 
the delusive name of free trade ? They are now tranquil, and happy, and 
contented, conscious of their welfare, and feeling a salutary and rapid cir- 
culation of the products of home manufactures and home industry, 
throughout all their great arteries. But let that be checked, let them feel 
that a foreign system is to predominate, and the sources of their subsist- 
ence and comfort dried up ; let New England and the West, and the middle 
States, all feel that they too are the victims of a mistaken policy, and let 
these vast portions of our country despair of any favorable change, and 
then indeed might we tremble for the continuance and safety of this Union. 
And need I remind you, sir, that this dereliction of the duty of protect- 
ing our domestic industry, aud abandonment of it to the fate of foreign 
legislation, would be directly at war with leading considerations which 
prompted the adoption of the present Constitution ? The States respect- 
ively surrendered to the general government the whole power of laying 
imposts on foreign goods. They stripped themselves of all power to pro- 
tect their own manufactures, by the most efficacious means of encourage- 
ment — the imposition of duties on rival foreign fabrics. Did they create 
that great trust, did they voluntarily subject themselves to this self-restric- 
tion, that the power should remain in the federal government inactive, un- 
executed, and lifeless ? Mr. Madison, at the commencement of the gov- 
ernment, told you otherwise. In discussing at that early period this very 
subject, he declared that a failure to exercise this power would be a " fraud" 
upon the northern States, to which may now be added the middle and 
western States. 

[Governor Miller asked to what expression of Mr. Madison's opinion Mr. 
Clay referred ; and Mr. Clay replied, his opinion, expressed in the House of 
Eepresentatives in 1789, as reported in Lloyd's Congressional Debates.] 

Gentlemen are greatly deceived as to the hold which this system has on 
the affections of the people of the United States'. They represent that it 
is the policy of New England, and that she is most benefited by it. If 
there be any part of this Union which has been most steady, most unani- 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 481 

mous, and most determined in its support, it is Pennsylvania. Why is not 
that powerful State attacked ? Why pass her over, and aim the blow at 
New England ? New England came reluctantly into the policy. In 1824, 
a majority of her delegation was opposed to it. From the largest State 
of New England there was but a solitary vote in favor of the bill. That 
enterprising people can readily accommodate their industry to any policy, 
provided it be settled. They supposed this was fixed, and they submitted 
to the decrees of government. And the progress of public opinion has 
kept pace with the developments of the benefits of the system. Now, all 
New England, at least in this House (with the exception of one small still 
voice), is in favor of the system. In 1824, all Maryland was against it ; 
now the majority is for it. Then, Louisiana, with one exception, was op- 
posed to it ; now, without any exception, she is in favor of it. The march 
of public sentiment is to the South. Virginia will be the next convert ; 
and in less than seven years, if there be no obstacles from political causes, 
or prejudices industriously instilled, the majority of eastern Virginia will 
be, as the majority of western Virginia now is, in favor of the American 
system. North Carolina will follow later, but not less certainly. Eastern 
Tennessee is now in favor of the system. And, finally, its doctrines will 
pervade the whole Union, and the wonder will be, that they ever should 
have been opposed. 

I have now to proceed to notice some objections which have been urged 
against the resolution under consideration. With respect to the amend- 
ment which the gentleman from South Carolina has offered, as he has 
intimated his purpose to modify it, I shall forbear for the present to com- 
ment upon it. It is contended that the resolution proposes the repeal of 
duties on luxuries, leaving those on necessaries to remain, and that it will, 
therefore, relieve the rich without lessening the burden of the poor. And 
the gentleman from South Carolina has carefully selected, for ludicrous 
effect, a number of the unprotected articles, cosmetics, perfumes, oranges, 
and so forth. I must say, that this exhibition of the gentleman is not in 
keeping with the candor which he has generally displayed ; that he knows 
very well that the duties upon these articles are trifling, and that it is of 
little consequence whether they are repealed or retained. Both systems, 
the American and the foreign, comprehend some articles which may be 
deemed luxuries. The Senate knows that the unprotected articles which 
yield the principal part of the revenue, with which this measure would 
dispense, are coffee, tea, spices, wines, and silks. Of all these articles, wines 
and silks alone can be pronounced to be luxuries ; and as to wines, we 
have already ratified a treaty, not yet promulgated, by which the duties 
on them are to be considerably reduced. If the universality of the use of 
objects of consumption determines their classification, coffee, tea, and 
spices, in the present condition of civilized society, may be considered nee 
essarios. Even if they were luxuries, why should not the poor, by cheap- 
ening their prices, if that can be effected, be allowed to use them ? Why 

31 



482 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

should not a poor man be allowed to tie a silk handkerchief on his neck, 
occasionally regale himself with a glass of cheap French wine, or present 
his wife or daughter with a silk gown, to be worn on Sabbath or gala days? 
I am quite sure that I do not misconstrue the feelings of the gentleman's 
heart, in supposing that he would be happy to see the poor as well as the 
rich moderately indulging themselves in those innocent gratifications. For 
one, I am delighted to see the condition of the poor attracting the con- 
sideration of the opponents of the tariff. It is for the great body of the 
people, and especially for the poor, that I have ever supported the Amer- 
ican system. It affords them profitable employment, and supplies tlie 
means of comfortable subsistence. It secures to them, certainly, neces- 
saries of life, manufactured at home, and at places within their reach, and 
enables them to acquire a reasonable share of foreign luxuries ; while the 
system of gentlemen promises them necessaries made in foreign countries, 
and which are beyond their power, and denies to them luxuries, which 
they would possess no means to purchase. 

The constant complaint of South Carolina against the tariff, is, that it 
checks importations, and disables foreign powers from purchasing the 
agricultural productions of the United States. The effect of the resolution 
will be to increase importations, not so much, it is true, from Great Britain, 
as from the other powers, but not the less acceptable on that account. It 
is a misfortune that so large a portion of our foreign commerce concen- 
trates in one nation ; it subjects us too much to the legislation and the 
policy of that nation, and exposes us to the influence of her numerous 
agents, factors, and merchants. And it is not among the smallest recom- 
mendations of the measure before the Senate, that its tendency will be to 
expand our commerce with France, our great revolutionary ally, the land 
of our Lafayette. There is much greater probability also of an enlarge- 
ment of the present demand for cotton in France than in Great Britain. 
France engaged later in the manufacture of cotton, and has made, there- 
fore, less progress. She has, moreover, no colonies producing the article in 
abundance, whose industry she might be tempted to encourage. 

The honorable gentleman from Maryland (General Smith), by his reply 
to a speech which, on the opening of the subject of this resolution, I had 
occasion to make, has rendered it necessary that I should take some notice 
of his observations. The honorable gentleman stated that he had been 
accused of partiality to the manufacturing interest. Never was there a 
more groundless and malicious charge preferred against a calumniated 
man. Since this question has been agitated in the public councils, although 
I have often heard from him professions of attachment to this branch of 
industry, I have never known any member a more uniform, determined, 
and uncompromising opponent of them, than the honorable senator has 
invariably been. And if, hereafter, the calumny should be repeated, of his 
friendship to the American system, I shall be ready to furnish to him, in 
the most solemn manner, my testimony to his innocence. The honorable 



ON THE AMEKICAN SYSTEM. 483 

gentleman supposed that I had advanced the idea that the permanent 
revenue of this country should he fixed at eighteen millions of dollars. 
Certainly I had no intention to announce such an opinion, nor do my ex- 
pressions, fairly interpreted, imply it. I stated, on the occasion referred to, 
that, estimating the ordinary revenue of the country at twenty-five millions, 
and the amount of the duties on the unprotected articles proposed to be 
repealed by the resolution at seven millions, the latter sum taken from the 
former would leave eighteen. But I did not intimate any belief that the 
revenue of the country ought, for the future, to be permanently fixed at 
that or any other precise sum. I stated that, after having effected so great 
a reduction, we might pause, cautiously survey the whole ground, and de- 
liberately determine upon other measures of reduction, seme of which I 
indicated. And I now say, Preserve the protective system in full vigor ; 
give us the proceeds of the public domain for internal improvements, or, 
if you please, partly for that object, and partly for the removal of the free 
blacks, with their own consent, from the United States; and for one, I 
have no objection to the reduction of the public revenue to fifteen, to thir- 
teen, or even to nine millions of dollars. 

In regard to the scheme of the Secretary of the Treasury for paying off 
the whole of the remaining public debt by the 4th of March, 1833, in- 
cluding the three per centum, and for that purpose selling the bank stock, 
I had remarked that, with the exception of the three per centum, there 
were not more than about four millions of dollars of the debt due and 
payable within this year ; that to meet this, the secretary had stated in his 
annual report, that the treasury would have, from the receipts of this year, 
fourteen millions of dollars, applicable to the principal of the debt ; that I 
did not perceive any urgency for paying off the three per centum by the 
precise day suggested ; and that there was no necessity, according to the 
plans of the Treasury, assuming them to be expedient and proper, to post- 
pone the repeal of the duties on unprotected articles. The gentleman from 
Maryland imputed to me ignorance of the act of the 24th of April, 1830, 
according to which, in his opinion, the secretary was obliged to purchase 
the three per centum. On what ground the senator supposed I was 
ignorant of that act, he has not stated. Although when it passed I was at 
Ashland, I assure him that I was not there altogether uninformed of what 
was passing in the world. I regularly received the Register of my excel- 
lent friend (Mr. Niles), published in Baltimore, the National Intelligencer, 
and other papers. There are two errors to which gentlemen are some- 
times liable ; one is to magnify the amount of knowledge which they 
possess themselves, and the second is to depreciate that which others have 
acquired. And will the gentleman from Maryland excuse me for thinking 
that no man is more prone to commit both errors than himself? I will 
not say that he is ignorant of the true meaning of the act of 1830, but I 
certainly place a different construction upon it from what he does. It does 
not oblige the Secretary of the Treasury, or rather the commissioners of 



484 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the sinking-fund, to apply the surplus of any year to the purchase of the 
three per centum stock particularly, but leaves them at liberty " to apply 
such surplus to the purchase of any portion of. the public debt at such 
rates as, in their opinion, may be advantageous to the United States." 
This vests a discretionary authority, to be exercised under official respon- 
sibility. And if any Secretary of the Treasury, when he had the option 
of purchasing a portion of the debt, bearing a higher rate of interest at 
par or about par, were to execute the act by purchasing the three per 
centums at their present price, he would merit impeachment. Undoubtedly 
a state of fact may exist, such as there being no public debt remaining to 
be paid but the three per centum stock, with a surplus in the Treasury, 
idle and unproductive, in which it might be expedient to apply that surplus 
to the reimbursement of the three per centums. But while the interest of 
money is at a greater rate than three per centum, it would not, I think, be 
wise to produce an accumulation of public treasure for such a purpose. 
The postponement of any reduction of the amount of the revenue at this 
session must, however, give rise to that very accumulation ; and it is, 
therefore, that I can not perceive the utility of the postponement. 

We are told by the gentleman from Maryland, that offers have been 
made to the Secretary of the Treasury to exchange three per centums, at 
their market price of ninety-six per centum, for the bank stock of the gov- 
ernment at his market price, which is about one hundred and twenty-six, 
and he thinks it would be wise to accept them. If the charter of the bank 
is renewed that stock will be probably worth much more than its present 
price ; if not renewed, much less. Would it be fair in government, while 
the question is pending and undecided, to make such an exchange ? The 
difference in value between a stock bearing three per centum and one bear- 
ing seven per centum must be really much greater than the difference be- 
tween ninety-six and one hundred and twenty-six per centum. Supposing 
them to be perpetual annuities, the one would be worth more than twice 
the value of the other. But my objection to the treasury plan is, that 
it is not necessary to execute it — to continue these duties as the sec- 
retary proposes. The secretary has a debt of twenty-four millions to pay . 
he has from the accruing receipts of this year fourteen millions, and we 
are now told by the senator from Maryland, that this sum of fourteen mil- 
lions is exclusive of any of the duties accruing this year. He proposes 
to raise eight millions by the sale of the bank stock, and to anticipate 
from the revenue receivable next year, two millions more. These three 
items, then, of fourteen millions, eight millions, and two millions, make up 
the sum required, of twenty-four millions, without the aid of the duties 
to which the resolution relates. 

The gentleman from Maryland insists that the general government has 
been liberal toward the West in its appropriations of public lands for in- 
ternal improvements ; and, as to fortifications, he contends that the ex- 
penditures near the mouth of the Mississippi are for its especial benefit. 



ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 485 

The appropriations of land to the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and 
Alabama, have been liberal ; but it is not to be overlooked, that the gen- 
eral government is itself the greatest proprietor of land, and that a tend- 
ency of the improvements, which these appropriations were to effect, is 
to increase the value of the unsold public domain. The erection of the 
fortifications for the defense of Louisiana was highly proper ; but the 
gentleman might as well place to the account of the West, the disburse- 
ment for the fortifications intended to defend Baltimore, Philadelphia, and 
New York, to all which capitals western produce is sent, and in the se- 
curity of all of which the western people feel a lively interest. They do 
not object to expenditures for the army, for the navy, for fortifications, or 
for any other offensive or commercial object on the Atlantic, but they do 
think that their condition ought also to receive friendly attention from the 
general government. With respect to the State of Kentucky, not one cent 
of money, or one acre of land has been applied to any object of internal 
improvement within her limits. The subscription to the stock of the canal 
at Louisville was for an object in which many States were interested. The 
senator from Maryland complains that he has been unable to attain any aid 
for the railroad which the enterprise of Baltimore has projected, and in 
part executed. That was a great work, the conception of which was bold, 
and highly honorable, and it deserves national encouragement. But how 
has the committee of roads and canals, at this session, been constituted ? 
The senator from Maryland possessed a brief authority to organize it, and, 
if I am not misinformed, a majority of the members composing it, appoint- 
ed by him, are opposed both to the constitutionality of the power, and the 
expediency of exercising it. 

And now, sir, I would address a few words to the friends of the Amer- 
ican system in the Senate. The revenue must, ought to be, reduced. The 
country will not, after by the payment of the public debt ten or twelve 
millions of dollars become unnecessary, bear such an annual surplus. Its 
distribution would form a subject of perpetual contention. Some of the 
opponents of the system understand the stratagem by which to attack it, 
and are shaping their course accordingly. It is to crush the system by 
the accumulation of revenue, and by the effort to persuade' the people that 
they are unnecessarily taxed, while those would really tax them who would 
break up the native sources of supply, and render them dependent upon 
the foreign. But the revenue ought to be reduced, so as to accommodate 
it to the fact of the payment of the public debt. And the alternative is, or 
may be, to preserve the protecting system, and repeal the duties on the 
unprotected articles, or to preserve the duties on unprotected articles, and 
endanger, if not destroy, the system. Let us then adopt the measure before 
us, which will benefit all classes — the farmer, the professional man, the 
merchant, the manufacturer, the mechanic; and the cotton planter more 
than all. A few months ago there was no diversity of opinion as to the 
expediency of this measure. All, then, seemed to unite in the selection of 



486 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

these objects for a repeal of duties which were not produced within the 
country. Such a repeal did not touch our domestic industry, violated no 
principle, offended no prejudice. 

Can we not all, whatever may be our favorite theories, cordially unite on 
this neutral ground ? When that is occupied, let us look beyond it, and 
see if any thing can be done in the field of protection, to modify, to improve 
it, or to satisfy those who are opposed to the system. Our southern breth- 
ren believe that it is injurious to them, and ask its repeal. We believe 
that its abandonment will be prejudicial to them, and ruinous to every other 
section of the Union. However strong their convictions may be, they are 
not stronger than ours. Between the points of the preservation of the sys- 
tem and its absolute repeal, there is no principle of union. If it can be 
shown to operate immoderately on any quarter ; if the measure of protec- 
tion to any article can be demonstrated to be undue and inordinate, it 
would be the duty of Congress to interpose and apply a remedy. And 
none will co-operate more heartily than I shall in the performance of that 
duty. It is quite probable that beneficial modifications of the system may 
be made without impairing its efficacy. But to make it fulfill the purposes 
of its institution, the measure of protection ought to be adequate. If it 
be not, all interests will be injuriously affected. The maufacturer, crippled 
in his exertions, will produce less perfect and dearer fabrics, and the con- 
sumer will feel the consequence. This is the spirit, and these are the prin- 
ciples only, on which it seems to me that a settlement of the great question 
can be made, satisfactorily to all parts of our Union. 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

IN SENATE, JUNE 20, 1832. 

[It was truly unfortunate for the country that some of Mr. 
Clay's most beneficent schemes for the public good, should have 
been frustrated by a jealousy "of his fame and influence. This 
was especially true in the result of his long-protracted endeavor 
to secure an equitable distribution of the proceeds of the sale of the 
public domain among the States. This immense property was 
pledged for the public debt ; but when the national debt was 
about being paid off, the question arose, What should be done 
with the proceeds of the sale of the public lands ? In a mes- 
sage to the Twenty-second Congress, General Jackson recom- 
mended, that the unsold public lands, lying within any of the 
States, should be ceded to those States — a policy which, of 
course, if adopted, would apply to all new States, as they should 
come into the Union, and which would naturally engender a 
wild speculation in the settlement of new territories with that 
view. Nothing could be more unjust to the old thirteen States 
than this proposal, for it was chiefly at the expense of the Old 
Thirteen — expense of blood and treasure — that the public do- 
main was acquired. But General Jackson wished to throw out 
a sop to the new States, where much of his strength lay ; and 
knowing that Mr. Clay's policy was equal justice to all the 
States, he rushed into the opposite extreme, apparently for no 
other reason than to oppose Mr. Clay. The Jackson party, be- 
in«- a majority in the Senate, referred the subject of public lands 
to the committee on manufactures, of which Mr. Clay was chair- 
man. This, in itself, requires explanation, since the subject 
naturally belonged to the committee on public lands. Jackson 
and Clay were both candidates for the presidency, and the Jack- 
son party in the Senate wished to get a report from Mr. Clay on 
the public lands, which would injure him in the West. Hence 
the absurd reference of the subject to the committee on manu- 
factures. Mr. Clay, however, as chairman of that committee, 



488 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

took up the subject, and made a report, which was a perfect dis- 
appointment to those who meant to put him in an embarrassing 
position, and greatly increased his popularity throughout the 
country. Chagrined by this result, the Senate immediately re- 
ferred the subject — where it ought to have gone at first, but 
where it was very improper to send it now — to the committee on 
public lands. But Mr. Clay's report was the only thing there- 
after which could be entertained, in Congress or in the country. 
It was afterwards passed by both Houses of Congress, and 
vetoed by General Jackson. With the exception of the loan 
act, here the subject lay, till a Whig Congress came in with 
General Harrison, in 1841, when Mr. Clay again brought for- 
ward his land bill, which was passed by Congress, in a modified 
form, adapted to the time. But it was too late to carry out the 
beneficent plan, which was frustrated by General Jackson's veto. 
A fair distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among 
the States would have afforded them great facilities for internal 
improvement.] 

In rising to address the Senate, I owe, in the first place, the expression 
of my hearty thanks to the majority, by whose vote, just given, I am in- 
dulged in occupying the floor on this most important question. I am 
happy to see that the days when the sedition acts and gag laws were in 
force, and when screws were applied for the suppression of the freedom of 
speech and debate, are not yet to return ; and that, when the consideration 
of a great question has been specially assigned to a particular day, it is not 
allowed to he arrested and thrust aside by any unexpected and unprece- 
dented parliamentary maneuver. The decision of the majority demonstrates 
that feelings of liberality, and courtesy, and kindness, still prevail in the 
Senate ; and that they will be extended even to one of the humblest mem- 
bers of the body ; for such, I assure the Senate, I feel myself to be. 

It may not be amiss again to allude to the extraordinary reference of 
the subject of the public lands to the committee on manufactures. I have 
nothing to do with the motives of honorable senators who composed the 
majority by which that reference was ordered. The decorum proper in 
this hall obliges me to consider their motives to have been pure and patri- 
otic. But still I must be permitted to regard the proceeding as very un- 
usual. The Senate has a standing committee on the public lands, appoint- 
ed under lonof-established rules. The members of that committee are 
presumed to be well acquainted with the subject ; they have some of them 
occupied the same station for many years, are well versed in the whole 
legislation on the public lands, and familiar with every branch of it ; and 
four out of five of them come frorn the new States. Yet, with a full 
knowledge of all these circumstances, a reference was ordered by a major- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 489 

ity of the Senate to the committee on manufactures — a committee than 
■which there is not another standing committee of the Senate, whose pre- 
scribed duties are more incongruous with the public domain. It happened, 
in the constitution of the committee of manufactures, that there was not a 
solitary senator from the new States, and but one from any western State. 
We earnestly protested against the reference, and insisted upon its impro- 
priety ; but we were overruled by the majority, including a majority of 
senators from the new States. I will not attempt an expression of the 
feelings excited in my mind on that occasion. AVhatever may have been 
the intention of honorable senators, I could not be insensible to the embar- 
rassment in which the committee on manufactures was placed, and especi- 
ally myself. Although any other member of that committee could have 
rendered himself, with appropriate researches and proper time, more com- 
petent than I was to understand the subject of the public lands, it was 
known that, from my local position, I alone was supposed to have any par- 
ticular knowledge of them. Whatever emanated from the committee was 
likely, therefore, to be ascribed to me. If the committee should propose a 
measure of great liberality toward the new States, the old States might 
complain. If the measure should seem to lean toward the old States, the 
new might be dissatisfied. And if it inclined to neither class of States, but 
recommended a plan according to which there would be distributed impar- 
tial justice among all the States, it was far from certain that any would be 
pleased. 

Without venturing to attribute to honorable senators the purpose of pro- 
ducing this personal embarrassment, I felt it as a necessary consequence of 
their act, just as much as if it had been in their contemplation. Never- 
theless, the committee of manufactures cheerfully entered upon the duty 
which, against its will, was thus assigned to it by the Senate. And for the 
causes already noticed, that of preparing a report and suggesting some 
measure embracing the whole subject, devolved in the committee upon me. 
The general features cf our land system were strongly impressed on my 
memory ; but I found it necessary to re-examine some of the treaties, deeds 
of cession, and laws, which related to the acquisition and administration 
of the public lands ; and then to think of, and, if possible, strike out some 
project, which without inflicting injury upon any of the States, might deal 
equally and justly with all of them. The report and bill submitted to the 
Senate, after having been previously sanctioned by a majority of the com- 
mittee, were the results of this consideration. The report, with the excep- 
tion of the principle of distribution which concludes it, obtained the unan- 
imous concurrence of the committee on manufactures. 

This report and bill were hardly read in the Senate before they were 
violently denounced. And they were not considered by the Senate before 
a proposition was made to refer the report to that very committee on the 
public lands to which, in the first instance, I contended the subject ought 
to have been assigned. It was in vain that we remonstrated against such 



490 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

a proceeding, as unprecedented, as implying unmerited censure on the 
committee on manufactures, as leading to interminable references ; for 
what more reason could there be to refer the report of the committee on 
manufactures to the land committee, than would exist for a subsequent ref- 
erence of the report of this committee, when made, to some third com- 
mittee, and so in an endless circle ? In spite of all our remonstrances, the 
same majority, with but little if any variation, which Lad originally re- 
solved to refer the subject to the committee on manufactures, now deter- 
mined to commit its bill to the land committee. And this not only with- 
out particular examination into the merits of that bill, but without the 
avowal of any specific amendment which was deemed necessary ! The 
committee on public lands, after the lapse of some days, presented a report, 
and recommended a reduction of the price of the public lands immediately 
to one dollar per acre, and eventually to fifty cents per acre ; and the grant 
to the new States of fifteen per centum on the net proceeds of the sales, 
instead of ten, as proposed by the committee on manufactures, and nothing 
to the old States. 

And now, Mr. President, I desire at this time, to make a few observations 
in illustration of the original report; to supply some omissions in its com- 
position ; to say something as to the power and rights of the general gov- 
ernment over the public domain ; to submit a few remarks on the counter 
report ; and to examine the assumptions which it contained, and the prin- 
ciples on which it was founded. 

No subject which had presented itself to the present, or perhaps any 
preceding Congress, was of greater magnitude than that of the public 
lands. There was another, indeed, which possessed a more exciting and 
absorbing interest ; but the excitement was hap>pily but temporary in its 
nature. Long after we shall cease to be agitated by the tariff, ages after 
our manufactures shall have acquired a stability and perfection which will 
enable them successfully to cope with the manufactures of any other 
country, the public lands will remain a subject of deep and enduring in- 
terest. In whatever view we contemplate them, there is no question of 
such vast importance. As to their extent, there is public land enough to 
found an empire ; stretching across the immense continent, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, from the Gulf of Mexico to the north- 
western lakes, the quantity, according to official surveys and estimates, 
amounting to the prodigious sum of one billion and eighty millions of 
acres ! As to the duration of the interest regarded as a source of comfort 
to our people, and of public income —during the past year, when the 
greatest quantity was sold that ever, in one year, had been previously 
sold, it amounted to less than three millions of acres, producing three 
millions and a half of dollars. Assuming that year as affording the 
standard rate at which the lauds will be annually sold, it would require 
three hundred years to dispose of them. But the sales will probably be 
accelerated from increased population, and other causes. We may safely, 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 491 

however, anticipate that long, if not centuries, after the present day, the 
representatives of our children's children may be deliberating in the halls 
of Congress, on laws relating to the public lands. 

The subject, in otber points of view, challenged the fullest attention of 
an American statesman. If there were any one circumstance more than 
all others which distinguished our happy condition from that of the na- 
tions of the old world, it was the possession of this vast national property, 
and the resources which it afforded to our people and our government. No 
European nation (possibly with the exception of Russia), commanded such 
an ample resource. With respect to the other republics of this continent, 
we have no information that any of them have yet adopted a regular system 
of previous survey and subsequent sale of their wild lands, in convenient 
tracts, well defined, and adapted to the wants of all. On the contrary, the 
probability is, that they adhere to the ruinous and mad system of old 
Spain, according to which large unsurveyed districts are granted to favorite 
individuals, prejudicial to them, who often sink under the incumbrance, 
and die in poverty, while the regular current of emigration is checked and 
diverted from its legitimate channels. 

And if there be in the operations of this government one which more 
than any other displays consummate wisdom and statesmanship, it is that 
system by which the public lands have been so successfully administered. 
We should pause, solemnly pause, before we subvert it. We should touch 
it hesitatingly, and with the gentlest hand. The prudent management of 
the public lands, in the hands of the general government, will be more 
manifest by contrasting it with that of several of the States, which had the 
disposal of large bodies of waste lands. Virginia possessed an ample domain 
west of the mountains, and in the present State of Kentucky, over and 
above her munificent cession to the general government. Pressed for pe- 
cuniary means by the revolutionary war, she brought her wild lands, dur- 
ing its progress, into market, receiving payment in paper money. There 
was no previous surveys of the waste lands ; no townships, no sections, no 
official definition or description of tracts. Each purchaser made his own 
location, describing the land bought as he thought proper. These loca- 
tions or descriptions were often vague and uncertain. The consequence 
was, that the same tract was not unfrequently entered at various times by 
different purchasers, so as to be literally shingled over with conflicting 
claims. The State perhaps sold in this way much more land than it was 
entitled to, but then it received nothing in return that was valuable ; 
while the purchasers, in consequence of the clashing and interference be- 
tween their rights, were exposed to tedious, vexatious, and ruinous litiga- 
tion. Kentucky suffered long and severely from this cause ; and is just 
emerging from the troubles brought upon her by improvident land legisla- 
tion. Western Virginia has also suffered greatly, though not to the same 
extent. 

The State of Georgia had large bodies of waste lands, which she disposed 



492 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

of in a manner satisfactory, no doubt to herself, but astonishing to every 
one out of that commonwealth. According to her system, waste lands are 
distributed in lotteries, among the people of the State, in conformity with 
the enactments of the Legislature. And when one district of country is 
disposed of, as there are many who do not draw prizes, the unsuccessful 
call out for fresh distributions. These are made from time to time, as 
lands are acquired from the Indians ; and hence one of the causes of the 
avidity with which the Indian lands are sought. It is manifest that 
neither the present generation, nor posterity, can derive much advan- 
tage from this mode of alienating public lands. On the contrary, I 
should think, it can not fail to engender speculation and a spirit of 
gambling. 

The State of Kentucky, in virtue of a compact with Virginia, acquired a 
right to a quantity of public lands south of Green river. Neglecting to 
profit by the example of the parent State, she ditl not order the country to 
be surveyed previous to its being offered to purchasers. Seduced by some 
of those wild land projects, of which at all times there have been some 
afloat, and which, hitherto, the general government alone has firmly resist- 
ed, she was tempted to offer her waste land to settlers, at different prices, 
under the name of head-rights or pre-emptions. As the laws, like most 
legislation upon such subjects, were somewhat loosely worded, the keen 
eye of the speculator soon discerned the defects, and he took advantage of 
them. Instances had occurred of masters obtaining certificates of head- 
rights in the name of their slaves, and thus securing the land, in contra- 
vention of the intention of the Legislature. Slaves, generally, have but 
one name, being called Tom, Jack, Dick, or Harry. To conceal the fraud, 
the owner would add Black, or some other cognomination, so that the cer- 
tificate would read, Tom Black, Jack Black, and so forth. The gentleman 
from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy), will remember, some twenty -odd years ago, 
when we were both members of the Kentucky Legislature, that I took oc- 
casion to animadvert upon these fraudulent practices, and observed, that 
when the names came to be alphabeted, the truth would be told, whatever 
might be the language of the record ; for the alphabet would read Black 
Torn, Black Harry, and so forth, Kentucky realized more in her treasury 
than the parent State had done, considering that she had but a remnant 
of public lands, and she added somewhat to her population. But they 
were far less available than they would have been under a system of pre- 
vious survey and regular sale. 

These observations, in respect to the course of the respectable States 
referred to, in relation to their public lands, are not prompted by any un- 
kind feelings toward them, but to show the superiority of the land system 
of the United States. 

Under the system of the general government, the wisdom of which, in 
some respects, is admitted, even by the report of the land committee, the 
country subject to its operation, beyond the Alleghany mountains, has rap- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 493 

idly advanced in population, improvement, and prosperity. The example 
of the State on Ohio was emphatically relied on by the report of the com- 
mittee of manufactures — its million of people, its canals, and other im- 
provements, its flourishing towns, its highly-cultivated fields, all put there 
within less than forty years. To weaken the force of this example, the 
land committee deny that the population of the State is principally settled 
upon public lands derived from the general government. But, Mr. Presi- 
dent, with great deference to that committee, I must say, that it labors 
under misapprehension. Three fourths, if not four fifths of the population 
of that State, are settled upon public lands purchased from the United 
States, and they are the most flourishing parts of the State. For the cor- 
rectness of this statement, I appeal to my friend from Ohio (Mr. Ewing) } 
near me. He knows, as well as I do, that the rich valleys of the Miami 
of Ohio, and the Maumee of the Lake, the Sciota and the Muskingum, 
are principally settled by persons deriving titles to their land from the 
United States. 

In a national point of view, one of the greatest advantages which these 
public lands in the West, and this system of settling them, affords, is the 
resource which they possess against pressure and want, in other parts of 
the Union, from the vocations of society being too closely filled, and too 
much crowded. They constantly tend to sustain the price of labor, by 
the opportunity which they offer, of the acquisition of fertile land at a 
moderate price, and the consequent temptation to emigrate from those 
parts of the Union Avhere labor may be badly rewarded. 

The progress of settlement, and the improvement in the fortunes and 
condition of individuals, under the operation of this beneficent system, are 
as simple as they are manifest. Pioneers of a more adventurous character, 
advancing before the tide of emigration, penetrate into the uninhabited 
regions of the West. They apply the axe to the forest, which falls before 
them, or the plow to the prairie, deeply sinking its share in the unbroken 
wild grasses in which it abounds. They build houses, plant orchards, en- 
close fields, cultivate the earth, and rear up families around them. Mean- 
time, the tide of emigration flows upon them, their improved farms rise 
in value, a demand for them takes place, they sell to the new comers, at a 
great advance, and proceed further west, with ample means to purchase 
from government, at reasonable prices, sufficient land for all the members 
of their families. Another and another tide succeeds, the first pushing on 
westwardly the previous settlers, who, in their turn, sell out their farms, 
constantly augmenting in price, until they arrive at a fixed and stationary 
value. In this way thousands, and tens of thousands, are daily improving 
their circumstances, and bettering their condition. I have often witnessed 
this gratifying progress. On the same farm you may sometimes behold) 
standing together, the first rude cabin of round and unhewn logs, and 
wooden chimneys, the hewed log house, chinked and shingled, with stone 
or brick chimneys, and, lastly, the comfortable brick or stone dwelling, 



494 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

each denoting the different occupants of the farm, or the several stages 
of the condition of the same occupant. What other nation can boast of 
such an outlet for its increasing population, such bountiful means of pro- 
moting their prosperity, and securing their independence ? 

To the public lands of the United States, and especially to the existing 
system by which they are distributed with so much regularity and equity, 
are we indebted for these signal benefits in our national condition. And 
every consideration of duty, to ourselves, and to posterity, enjoins that we 
should abstain from the adoption of any wild project that would cast away 
this vast national property, holden by the general government in sacred 
trust for the whole people of the United States, and forbids that we should 
rashly touch a system which has been so successfully tested by experience. 

It has been only within a few years, that restless men have thrown be- 
fore the public their visionary plans for squandering the public domain. 
With the existing laws, the great State of the west is satisfied and con- 
tented. She has felt their benefit, and grown great and powerful under 
their sway. She knows and testifies to the liberality of the general gov- 
ernment, in the administration of the public lands, extended alike to her 
and to the other new States. There are no j>etitions from, no movements 
in Ohio, proposing vital and radical changes in the system. During the 
long period, in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate, that her 
upright and unambitious citizen, the first representative of that State, and 
afterward successively senator and governor, presided over the committee 
on public lands, we heard of none of these chimerical schemes. All went 
on smoothly, and quietly, and safely. No man, in the sphere within which 
he acted, ever commanded or deserved the implicit confidence of Congress, 
more than Jeremiah Morrow. There existed a perfect persuasion of his 
entire impartiality and justice between the old States and the new. A few 
artless but sensible words, pronounced in his plain Scotch-Irish dialect, were 
always sufficient to insure the passage of any bill or resolution which he 
reported. For about twenty -five years, there was no essential change in 
the system ; and that which was at last made, varying the price of the 
public lands from two dollars, at which it had all that time remained, to 
one dollar and a quarter, at which it has been fixed only about ten or 
twelve years, was founded mainly on the consideration of abolishing the 
previous credits. 

Assuming the duplication of our population in terms of twenty-five 
years, the demand for waste land, at the end of every term, will at least 
be double what it was at the commencement. But the ratio of the in- 
creased demand will be much greater than the increase of the whole 
population of the United States, because the western States nearest to, or 
including the public lands, populate much more rapidly than other parts 
of the Union ; and it will be from them that the greatest current of emi- 
gration will flow. At this moment, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, are 
the most migrating States in the Union. 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 495 

To supply the constantly-augmenting demand, the policy, which lias 
hitherto characterized the general government, has heen highly liberal 
both toward individuals and the new States. Large tracts, far surpassing 
the demand of purchasers, in every climate and situation, adapted to the 
wants of all parts of the Union, are brought into market at moderate 
prices, the government having sustained all the expense of the original 
purchase, and of surveying, marking, and dividing the land. For fifty 
dollars any poor man may purchase forty acres of first-rate land ; and, for 
less than the wages of one year's labor, he may buy eighty acres. To the 
new States, also, has the government been liberal and generous in the 
grants for schools and for internal improvements, as well as in reducing 
the debt, contracted for the purchase of lands, by the citizens of those 
States, who were tempted, in a spirit of inordinate speculation, to purchase 
too much, or at too high prices. 

Such is a rapid outline of this invaluable national property, of the sys- 
tem which regulates its management and distribution, and of the effects 
of that system. We might here pause, and wonder that there should be 
a disposition with any to waste or throw away this great resource, or to 
abolish a system which has been fraught with so many manifest advan- 
tages. Nevertheless, there are such, who, impatient with the slow and 
natural operation of wise laws, have put forth various pretensions and pro- 
jects concerning the public lands, within a few years past. One of these 
pretensions is, an assumption of the sovereign right of the new States to 
all the lands within their respective limits, to the exclusion of the gen- 
eral government, and to the exclusion of all the people of the United 
States, those in the new States only excepted. It is my purpose now to 
trace the origin, examine the nature, and expose the injustice, of this pre- 
tension. 

This pretension may be fairly ascribed to the propositions of the gentle- 
man from Missouri (Mr. Benton), to graduate the public lands, to reduce 
the price, and cede the " refuse" lands (a term which I believe originated 
with him), to the States within which they lie. Prompted, probably, by 
these propositions, a late governor of Illinois, unwilling to be outdone, 
presented an elaborate message to the Legislature of that State, in which 
he gravely and formally asserted the right of that State to all the land of 
the United States, comprehended within its limits. It must be allowed 
that the governor was a most impartial judge, and the Legislature a most 
disinterested tribunal, to decide such a question. 

The senator from Missouri was chanting most sweetly to the tune, 
" refuse lands," " refuse lands," " refuse lands," on the Missouri side of the 
Mississippi, and the soft strains of his music, having caught the ear of his 
excellency on the Illinois side, he joined in chorus, and struck an octave 
higher. The senator from Missouri wished only to pick up some crumbs 
which fell from Uncle Sam's table ; but the governor resolved to grasp 
the whole loaf. The senator modestly claimed only an old, smoked, re- 



496 SPEECHES OF HENKT CLAY. 

jected joint ; but the stomach of his excellency yearned after the whole 
hog ! The governor peeped over the Mississippi into Missouri, and saw 
the senator leisurely roaming in some rich pastures, on bits of refuse lands. 
He returned to Illinois, and springing into the grand prairie, determined to 
claim and occupy it, in all its boundless extent. 

Then came the resolution of the senator from Virginia (Mr. Tazewell), 
in May, 1826, in the following words: 

" Resolved, that it is expedient for the United States to cede and surrender 
to the several States, within whose limits the same may be situated, all the 
right, title, and interest of the United States, to any lands lying and being 
within the boundaries of such States, respectively, upon such terms and condi- 
tions as may be consistent with the due observance of the public faith, and with 
the general interest of the United States." 

The latter words rendered the resolution somewhat ambiguous ; but still 
it contemplated a cession and surrender. Subsequently, the senator from 
Virginia proposed, after a certain time, a gratuitous surrender of all unsold 
lands, to be applied by the Legislature, in support of education and the in- 
ternal improvement of the State. 

[Here Mr. Tazewell controverted the statement. Mr. Clay called to the sec- 
retary to hand him the journal of April, 1828, which he held up to the Senate, 
and read from it the following : 

" The bill to graduate the price of the public lands, to make donations thereof 
to actual settlers, and to cede the refuse to the States in which they He, being 
under consideration — 

" Mr. Tazewell moved to insert the following as a substitute : 

" That the lands which shall have been subject to sale under the provisions of 
this act, and shall remain unsold for two years, after having been offered at 
twenty-five cents per acre, shall be, and the same is, ceded to the State in which 
the same may lie, to be applied by the Legislature thereof in support of educa- 
tion, and the internal improvement of the State."] 

Thus it appears not only that the honorable senator proposed the cession, 
but showed himself the friend of education and internal improvements, by 
means derived from the general government. For this liberal disposition 
on his part, I believe it was, that the State of Missouri honored a new 
county with his name. If he had carried his proposition, that State might 
well have granted a principality to him. 

The memorial of the Legislature of Illinois, probably produced by the 
message of the governor already noticed, had been presented, asserting a 
claim to the public lands. And it seems (although the fact had escaped 
my recollection until I was reminded of it by one of her senators, Mr. 
Hendricks, the other day) that the Legislature of Indiana had instructed 
her senators to bring foward a similar claim. At the last session, however, 
of the Legislature of that State, resolutions had passed, instructing her 
delegation to obtain from the general government cessions of the unappro- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 497 

priated public lands, on the most favorable terms. It is clear from tins last 
expression of the will of that Legislature, that, on reconsideration, it be- 
lieved the right to the public lands to be in the general government, and 
not in the State of Indiana. For, if they did not belong to the general 
government, it had nothing to cede ; if they belonged already to the State, 
no cession was necessary to the perfection of the right of the State. 

I will here submit a passing observation. If the general government 
had the power to cede the public lands to the new States for particular 
purposes, and on prescribed conditions, its power must be unquestionable 
to make some reservations for similar purposes in behalf of the old States. 
Its power can not be without limit as to the new States, and circumscribed 
and restricted as to the old. Its capacity to bestow benefits or dispense 
justice is not confined to the new States, but is coextensive with the 
whole Union. It may grant to all, or it can grant to none. And this 
comprehensive equity is not only in conformity with the spirit of the ces- 
sions in the deeds from the ceding States, but is expressly enjoined by the 
terms of those deeds. 

Such is the probable origin of the pretension which I have been trac- 
ing; and now let us examine its nature and foundation. The argument in 
behalf of the new States, is founded on the notion, that as the old States, 
upon coming out of the revolutionary war, had or claimed, a right to all 
the lands within their respective limits ; and as the new States have been 
admitted into the Union on the same footing and condition in all respects 
with the old, therefore they are entitled to all the waste lands embraced 
within their boundaries. But the argument forgets that all the revolu- 
tionary States had not waste lands ; that some had but very little, and 
others none. It forgets that the right of the States to the waste lands 
within their limits was controverted ; and that it was insisted that, as they 
had been conquered in a common war, waged with common means, and 
attended with general sacrifices, the public lands should be held for the 
common benefit of all the States. It forgets that in consequence of this 
right, asserted in behalf of the whole Union, the States that contained any 
large bodies of waste lands (and Virginia, particularly, that had the most) 
ceded them to the Union, for the equal benefit of all the States. It for- 
gets that the very equality which is the basis of the argument, would be 
totally subverted by the admission of the validity of the pretension. For 
how would the matter then stand ? The revolutionary States will have 
divested themselves of the large districts of vacant lands which they con- 
tained, for the common benefit of all the States ; and those same lands 
will enure to the benefit of the new States exclusively. There will be, on 
the supposition of the validity of the pretension, a reversal of the condi- 
tion of the two classes of States. Instead of the old having, as- is alleged, 
the wild lands which they included at the epoch of the Revolution, they 
will have none, and the new States all. And this in the name and for the 
purpose of equality among all the members of the confederacy ! What, 

32 



498 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. ' 

especially, would be the situation of Virginia ? She magnanimously ceded 
an empire in extent for the common benefit. And now it is proposed not 
only to withdraw that empire from the object of its solemn dictation, to 
the use of all the States, but to deuy her any participation in it, and ap- 
propriate it exclusively to the benefit of the new States carved out of it. 

If the new States had any right to the public lands, in order to produce 
the very equality contended for, they ought forthwith to cede that right to 
the Union, for the common benefit of all the States. Having no such right, 
they ought to acquiesce cheerfully in an equality which does, in fact, now 
exist between them and the old States. 

The committee on manufactures has clearly shown, that if the right were 
recognized in the new States now existing, to the public land within their 
limits, each of the new States, as they might hereafter be successively ad- 
mitted into the Union, would have the same right ; and, consequently, that 
the pretension under examination embraces, in effect, the whole public 
domain, that is, a billion and eighty millions of acres of land. 

The right of the Union to the public lands is incontestable. It ought 
not to be considered debatable. It never was questioned but by a few, 
whose monstrous heresy it was probably supposed, would escape animad- 
version from the enormity of the absurdity, and the utter impracticability of 
the success of the claim. The right of the whole is sealed by the blood of 
the Revolution, founded upon solemn deeds of cession from sovereign 
States, deliberately executed in the face of the world, or resting upon 
national treaties concluded with foreign powers, on ample equivalents 
contributed from the common treasury of the people of the United 
States. 

This right of the whole was stamped upon the face of the new States at 
the very instant of their parturition. They admitted and recognized it with 
their first breath. They hold their stations, as members of the confederacy, 
in virtue of that admission. The senators who sit here, and the members 
in the House of Representatives from the new States, deliberate in Congress 
with other senators and representatives, under that admission. And since 
the new States came into being, they have recognized this right of the 
general government by innumerable acts — 

By their concurrence in the passage of hundreds of laws respecting the 
public domain, founded upon the incontestable right of the whole of the 
States ; 

By repeated applications to extinguish Indian titles, and to survey the 
lands which they covered ; 

And by solicitation and acceptance of extensive grants of the public lands 
from the general government. 

The existence of the new State is a falsehood, or the right of all the 
States to the public domain is an undeniable truth. They have no more 
right to the public lands, within their particular jurisdiction, than other 
States have to the mint, the forts and arsenals, or public ships, within theirs, 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 499 

or than the people of the District of Columbia have to this magnificent 
capitol, in whose splendid halls we now deliberate. 

The equality contended for between all the States now exists. The pub- 
he lands are now held, and ought to be held and administered for the com- 
mon benefit of all. I hope our fellow-citizens of Illinois, Indiana, and Mis- 
souri, will reconsider the matter ; that they will cease to take counsel from 
demagogues who would deceive them, and instill erroneous principles into 
their ears ; and that they will feel and acknowledge that their brethren of 
Kentucky and of Ohio, and of all the States in the Union, have an equal 
right with the citizens of those three States, in the public lands. If the 
possibility of an event so direful as a severance of this Union were for a 
moment contemplated, what would be the probable consequence of such 
an unspeakable calamity; if three confederacies were formed out of its 
fragments, do you imagine that the western confederacy would consent to 
have the States including the public lands hold them exclusively for them- 
selves ? Can you imagine that the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennes- 
see, would quietly renounce their right in all the public lands west of them ? 
No, sir ! No, sir ! They would wade to their knees in blood, before they 
would make such an unjust and ignominious surrender. 

But this pretension, unjust to the old States, unequal as to all, would be 
injurious to the new States themselves, in whose behalf it has been put 
forth, if it were recognized. The interest of the new States is not confined 
to the lands within their limits, but extends to the whole billion and eighty 
millions of acres. Sanction the claims, however, and they are cut down 
and restricted to that which is included in their own boundaries. Is it not 
better for Ohio, instead of the five millions and a half, or Indiana, instead 
of the fifteen millions, or even for Illinois, instead of the thirty-one or 
thirty-two millions, or Missouri instead of the thirty-eight millions, within 
their respective limits, to retain their interest, in those several qualities, 
and also to retain their interest in common with the other members of the 
Union, in the countless millions of acres that lie west, or north-west, 
beyond them ? 

I will now proceed, Mr. President, to consider the expediency of a reduc- 
tion of the price of the public lands, and the reasons assigned by the land 
committee, in their report, in favor of that measure. They are presented 
there in formidable detail, and spread out under seven different heads. Let 
us examine them ; the first is, " because the new States have a clear right 
to participate in the benefits of a reduction of the revenue to the wants of 
the government, by getting the reduction extended to the article of revenue 
chiefly used by them." Here is a renewal of the attempt made early in 
the session, to confound the public lands with foreign imports, which was 
so successfully exposed and refuted by the report of the committee on manu- 
factures. 

Will not the new States participate in any reduction of the revenue, in 
common with the old States, without touching the public lands ? As far 



500 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

as they are consumers of objects of foreign import, will they not equally 
share the benefit with the old States ? What right, over and above that 
equal participation, have the new States to a reduction of the price of the 
public lands ] As States, what right, much less what " clear right" have 
they to any such reduction ? In their sovereign or corporate capacities, 
what right ? Have not all the stipulations between them, as States, and the 
general government, been fully complied with ? Have the people within 
the new States, considered distinct from the States themselves, any right 
to such a reduction. Whence is it derived ? They went there in pursuit 
of their own happiness. They bought lands from the public because it was 
their interest to make the purchase, and they enjoy them. Did they, be- 
cause they purchased some land, which they possess peaceably, acquire any, 
and what right in the land which they did not buy ? But it may be ar- 
gued that by settling and improving these lands the adjacent public lands 
are enhanced. True ; and so are their own. The enhancement of the 
public lands was not a consequence which they went there to produce, but 
was a collateral effect, as to which they were passive. The public does 
not seek to avail itself of this augmentation in value by augmenting the 
price. It leaves that where it was ; and the demand for reduction is made 
in behalf of those who say their labor has increased the value of the public 
lands, and the claim to reduction is founded upon the fact of enhanced 
value. The public, like all other land-holders, had a right to anticipate 
that the sale of a part would communicate, incidentally, greater value upon 
the residue. And, like all other land proprietors, it has the right to ask 
more for that residue ; but it does not, and, for one, I should be as unwill- 
ing to disturb the existing price by augmentation as by reduction. But 
the public lands is the article of revenue which the people of the new 
States chiefly consume. In another part of this report, liberal grants of 
the public lands are recommended, and the idea of holding the public 
lands as a source of revenue is scouted ; because it is said, more revenue 
could be collected from the settlers, as consumers, than from the lands. 
Here it seems that the public lands are the articles of revenue chiefly con- 
sumed by the new States. 

With respect to lands yet to be sold, they are open to the purchase 
alike of emigrants from the old States, and settlers in the new. As the 
latter have most generally supplied themselves with lands, the probabdity 
is, that the emigrants are more interested in the question of reduction than 
the settlers. At all events, there can be no peculiar right to such a re- 
duction existing in the new States. It is a question common to all, and 
to be decided in reference to the interest of the whole Union. 

Second. " Because the public debt being now paid, the public lands are en- 
tirely released from the pledge they were under to that object, and are free to 
receive a new and liberal destination, for the relief of die States in which they He." 

The payment of the publio debt is conceded to be near at hand ; and it 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 501 

is admitted that the public lands, being liberated, may now receive a new 
and liberal destination. Such an appropriation of their proceeds is pro- 
posed by the bill reported by the committee on manufactures, and to which 
I shall hereafter more particularly call the attention of the Senate. But it 
did not seem just to that committee, that this new and liberal destination 
of them should be restricted " for the relief of the States in which they lie," 
exclusively, but should extend to all the States indiscriminately, upon prin- 
ciples of equitable distribution. 

Third. " Because nearly one hundred millions of acres of the land now in 
market are the refuse of sales and donations, through a long series of years, and 
are of very little actual value, and are only fit to be given to settlers, or aban- 
doned to the States in which they lie." 

According to an official statement, the total quantity of public land 
which has been surveyed up to the 31st of December last, was a little up- 
ward of one hundred and sixty-two millions of acres. Of this, a large pro- 
portion, perhaps even more than the one hundred millions of acres stated 
in the land report, has been a long time in market. The entire quantity 
which has ever been sold by the United States, up to the same day, after 
deducting lands relinquished and lands reverted to the United States, ac- 
cording to an official statement, also, is twenty-five million two hundred 
and forty-two thousand five hundred and ninety acres. Thus after the 
lapse of thirty-six years, during which the present land system has been in 
operation, a little more than twenty-five millions of acres have been sold, 
not averaging a million per annum, and upward of one hundred millions 
of the surveyed lands remain to be sold. The argument of the report of 
the land committee assumes, that " nearly one hundred millions are the 
refuse of sales and donations," are of very little actual value, and only fit to 
be given to settlers, or abandoned to the States in which they lie. 

Mr. President, let us define as we go — let us analyze. What do the 
land committee mean by " refuse land ?" Do they mean worthless, in- 
ferior, rejected land, which nobody will buy at the present government 
price ? Let us look at facts, and make them our guide. The government 
is constantly pressed by the new States to bring more and more lands into 
the market ; to extinguish more Indian titles ; to survey more. The new 
States themselves are probably urged to operate upon the general govern- 
ment by emigrants and settlers, who see still before them, in their progress 
west, other new lands which they desire. The general government yields 
to the solicitations. It throws more land into the market, and it is an- 
nually and daily preparing additional surveys of fresh lands. It has thrown, 
and is preparing to throw, open to purchasers already one huudred and 
sixty-two millions of acres. And now, because the capacity to purchase, 
in its nature limited by the growth of our population, is totally incom- 
petent to absorb this immense quantity, the government is called upon, by 
some of the very persons who urged the exhibition of this vast amount to 



502 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

sale, to consider all that remains unsold as refuse ! Twenty-five millions 
in thirty-six years only are sold, and all the rest is to be looked upon as 
refuse. Is this right ? If there had been five hundred millions in market, 
there probably would not have been more or much more sold. But I deny 
the correctness of the conclusion that it is worthless because not sold. It is 
not sold because there were not people to buy it. You must have gone to 
other countries, to other worlds, to the moon, and drawn from thence peo- 
ple to buy the prodigious quantity which you offered to sell. 

Refuse land ! A purchaser goes to a district of country and buys out 
of a township a section which strikes his fancy. He exhausts his money. 
Others might have preferred other sections. Other sections may even be 
better than his. He can with no more propriety be said to have " refused" 
or rejected all the other sections, than a man who, attracted by the beauty, 
charms, and accomplishments of a particular lady, marries her, can be said 
to have rejected or refused all the rest of the sex. 

Is it credible, that out of one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty 
millions of acres of land in a valley celebrated for its fertility, there are only 
about twenty-five millions of acres of good land, and that all the rest is 
refuse ? Take the State of Illinois as an example. Of all the States in 
the Union, that State probably contains the greatest proportion of rich, 
fertile lands ; more than Ohio, more than Indiana, abounding as they both 
do in fine lands. Of the thirty-three millions and a half of public lands 
in Illinois, a little more only than two millions have been sold. Is the 
residue of thirty-one millions all refuse land ? Who that is acquainted in 
the West can assert or believe it? No, sir; there is no such thiDg. The 
unsold lands are unsold because of the reasons already assigned. Doubt- 
less there is much inferior land remaining, but a vast quantity of the best 
of lands also. For its timber, soil, water-power, grazing, minerals, almost 
all land possesses a certain value. If the lands unsold are refuse and 
worthless in the hands of the general government, why are they sought 
after with so much avidity ? If in our hands they are good for nothing, 
what more would they be worth in the hands of the new States ? " Only 
fit to be given to settlers !" What settlers would thank you ? what settlers 
would not scorn a gift of refuse, worthless land ? If you mean to be gen- 
erous, give them what is valuable ; be manly in your generosity. 

But let us examine a little closer this idea of refuse land. If there be 
any State in which it is to be found in large quantities, that State would 
be Ohio. It is the oldest of the new States. There the public lands have 
remainded louger exposed in the market. But there we find only five 
millions and a half to be sold. And I hold in my hand an account of 
sales in the Zanosville district, one of the oldest in that State, made during 
the present year. It is in a paper, entitled the Ohio Republican, pub- 
lished in Zanesville, the 26th of May, 1832. The article is headed 
" refuse land," aud it states : " It has suited the interest of some to rep- 
resent the lands of the United States which have remained in market for 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 503 

many years as mere ' refuse,' which can not be sold ; and to urge a rapid 
reduction of price, and the cession of the residue, in a short period, to the 
States in which they are situated. It is strongly urged against this plan 
that it is a speculating project, which, by alienating a large quantity of 
land from the United States, will cause a great increase of price to actual 
settlers in a few years ; instead of their being able forever, as it may be 
said is the case under the present system of land sales, to obtain a farm at 
a reasonable price. To show how far the lands unsold are from being 
worthless, we copy from the Gazette the following statement of recent sales 
in the Zanesville district, one of the oldest districts in the West. The 
sales at the Zanesville land-office, since the commencement of the present 
year, have been as follows: January, seven thousand one hundred and 
twenty dollars and eighty cents; February, eight thousand five hundred 
and forty-two dollars and sixty-seven cents; March, eleven thousand seven 
hundred and forty-four dollars and seventy-five cents ; April, nine thousand 
two hundred and nine dollars and nineteen cents; and since the first of the 
•present month about nine thousand dollars' worth have beeu sold, more 
than half of which was in forty acre lots." And there can not be a doubt 
that the act, passed at this session, authorizing sales of forty acres, will, 
from the desire to make additions to farms, and to settle young members 
of families, increase the sales very much, at least during this year. 

A friend of mine in this city bought in Illinois last fall about two 
thousand acres of this refuse land at the minimum price, for which he has 
lately refused six dollars per acre. An officer of this body, now in my 
eye, purchased a small tract of this same refuse land, of one hundred and 
sixty acres, at second or third hand, entered a few years ago, and which is 
now estimated at one thousand nine hundred dollars. It is a business, a 
very profitable business, at which fortunes are made in the new States, to 
purchase these refuse lands, and, without improving them, to sell them at 
large advances. 

Far from being discouraged by the fact of so much surveyed public land 
remaining unsold, we should rejoice that this bountiful resource, possessed 
by our country, remains in almost undiminished quantity, notwithstanding 
so many new and flourishing States have sprung up in the wilderness, 
and so many thousands of families have been accommodated. It might 
be otherwise, if the public land was dealt out by government with a 
sparing, grudging, griping hand. But they are liberally offered, in ex- 
haustless quantities, and at moderate prices, enriching individuals, and 
tending to the rapid improvement of the country. The two important 
facts brought forward and emphatically dwelt on by the committee of 
manufactures, stand in their full force, unaffected by any thing stated in 
the report of the land committee. These facts must carry conviction to 
every unbiased mind, that will deliberately consider them. The first is, the 
rapid increase of the new States, far outstripping the old, averaging annu- 
ally an increase of eight and a half per centum, and doubling, of course, 



504 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

in twelve years. One of these States, Illinois, full of refuse land, increasing 
at the rate of eighteen and a half per centum ! Would this astonishing 
growth take place if the lands were too high, or all the good land sold ? 
The other fact is, the vast increase in the annual sales — in 1830, rising of 
three millions. Since the report of the committee on manufacture?, the 
returns have come in of the sales of last year, which had heen estimated 
at three millions. They were, in fact, three million five hundred and sixty- 
six thousand one hundred and twenty-seven dollars and ninety-four cents ! 
Their progressive increase baffles all calculation. Would this happen, if 
the price were too high ? 

It is argued, that the value of different townships and sections is va- 
rious ; and that it is, therefore, wrong to fix the same price for all. The 
variety in the quality, situation, and advantages, of different tracts, is no 
doubt great. After the adoption of any system of classification, there 
would still remain very great diversity in the tracts belonging to the same 
class. This is the law of nature. The presumption of inferiority, and of 
refuse land, founded upon the length of time that the land has been in- 
market, is denied, for reasons already stated. The offer, at public auction, 
of all lands to the highest bidder, previous to their being sold at private 
sale, provides in some degree for the variety in the value, since each pur- 
chaser pushes the land up to the price, which, according to his opinion, it 
ought to command. But if the price demanded by government is not too 
high for the good land (and no one can believe it), why not wait until that 
is sold, before any reduction in the price of the bad ? And that will not 
be sold for many years to come. It Avould be quite as wrong to bring the 
price of good land down to the standard of the bad, as it is alleged to 
he, to carry the latter up to that of the former. Until the good land is 
sold there will be no purchasers of the bad ; for, as has been stated in the 
report of the committee on manufactures, a discreet farmer would rather 
give a dollar and a quarter per acre for first-rate laud, than accept refuse 
and worthless land as a present. 

" Fourth. Because the speedy extinction of the federal title within their 
limits is necessary to the independence of the new States, to their equality with 
the elder States ; to the development of their resources ; to the subjection of 
their soil to taxation, cultivation, and settlement, and to the proper enjoyment 
of their jurisdiction and sovereignty." 

All this is mere assertion and declamation. The general government, at 
a moderate price, is selling the public land as fast as it can find purchasers. 
The new States are populating with unexampled rapidity ; their condition 
is now much more eligible than that of some of the old States. Ohio, 
I am sony to be obliged to confess, is, in internal improvement and some 
other respects, fifty years in advance of her elder sister and neighbor, 
Kentucky. How have her growth and prosperity, her independence, her 
equality with the elder States, the development of her resources, the tax- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 505 

ation, cultivation, and settlement of her soil, or the proper enjoyment of 
her jurisdiction and sovereignty, been affected or impaired by the federal 
title within her limits? The federal title! It has been a source of bless- 
ings and of bounties, but not one of real grievance. As to the exemption 
from taxation of the public lands, and the exemption for five years of 
those sold to individuals, if the public land belonged to the new States, 
would they tax it ? And as to the latter exemption, it is paid for by the 
general government, as may be seen by reference to the compacts ; and it 
is, moreover, beneficial to the new States themselves, by holding out a 
motive to emigrants to purchase and settle within their limits. 

" Sixth. Because the ramified machinery of the land-office department, and 
the ownership of so much soil, extends the patronage and authority of the gen- 
eral government into the heart and corners of the new States, and subjects 
their policy to the danger of a foreign and powerful influence." 

A foreign and powerful influence ! The federal government a foreign 
government ! And the exercise of a legitimate control over the national 
property, for the benefit of the whole people of the United States, a dep- 
recated penetration into the heart and corners of the new States ! As to 
the calamity of the land offices, which are held within them, I believe that 
is not regarded by the people of these States with quite as much horror 
as it is by the land committee. They justly consider that they ought to 
hold those offices themselves, and that no persons ought to be sent from 
the other foreign States of this Union to fill them. And if the number 
of the offices were increased, it would not be looked upon by them as a 
grievous addition to the calamity. 

But what do the land committee mean by the authority of this foreign, 
federal government ? Surely, they do not desire to get rid of the federal 
government. And yet the final settlement of the land question will have 
effected but little in expelling its authority from the bosoms of the new 
States. Its action will still remain in a thousand forms, and the heart and 
corners of the new States will still be invaded by post-offices, and post- 
masters and post-roads, and the Cumberland road, and various other 
modifications of its power. 

" Because the sum of four hundred and twenty-five millions of dollars, pro- 
posed to be drawn from the new States and Territories, by the sale of their soil, 
at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, is unconscionable and impracticable 
— such as never can be paid — and the bare attempt tr raise which, must drain, 
exhaust, and impoverish these States, and give birth to the feelings, which a 
sense of injustice and oppression never fail to excite, and the excitement of 
which should be so carefully avoided in a confederacy of free States." 

In another part of this report the committee say, speaking of the im- 
mense revenue alleged to be derivable from the public lands, " this ideal 
revenue is estimated at four hundred and twenty-five millions of dollars, 



50G SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

for the lands now within the limits of the States and Territories, and at 
one billion three hundred and sixty-three million five hundred and eighty- 
nine thousand six hundred and ninety-one dollars for the whole federal 
domain. Such chimerical calculations preclude the propriety of argu- 
mentative answers." Well, if these calculations are all chimerical, there 
is no dangei*, from the preservation of the existing land system, of drain- 
ing, exhausting and impoverishing the new States, and of exciting them to 
rebellion. 

The manufacturing committee did not state what the public lands would, 
in fact, produce. They could not state it. It is hardly a subject of ap- 
proximate estimate. The committee stated what would be the proceeds, 
estimated by the minimum price of the public lands ; what, at one half of 
that price; and added, that, although there might be much land that 
would never sell at one dollar and a quarter per acre, " as fresh lands are 
brought into market and exposed to sale at auction, many of them sell at 
prices exceeding one dollar and a quarter per acre." They concluded by 
remarking, that the least favorable view of regarding them, was to con- 
sider them a capital yielding an annuity of three millions of dollars at 
this time ; that, in a few years, that annuity would probably be doubled, 
and that the capital might then be assumed as equal to one hundred mil- 
lions of dollars. 

Whatever may be the sum drawn from the sales of the public lands, it 
will be contributed, not by citizens of the States alone in which they are 
situated, but by emigrants from all the States. And it will be raised, not 
in a single year, but in a long series of years. It would have been 
impossible for the State of Ohio to have paid, in one year, the millions 
that have been raised in that State, by the sale of public lands ; but in 
a period of upward of thirty years, the payment has been made, not only 
without impoverishing, but with the constantly-increasing prosperity of the 
State. 

Such, Mr. President, are the reasons of the land committee, for the re- 
duction of the price of the public lands. Some of them had been antici- 
pated and refuted in the report of the manufacturing committee ; and I 
hope that I have now shown the insolidity of the residue. 

I will not dwell upon the consideration urged in that report, against any 
large reduction, founded upon its inevitable tendency to lessen the value 
of the landed property throughout the Union, and that in the western 
States especially. That such would be the necessary consequence, no man 
can doubt, who will seriously reflect upon such a measure as that of throw- 
ing into market, immediately, upward of one hundred and thirty millions 
of acres, and at no distant period upward of two hundred millions more, 
at greatly reduced rates. 

If the honorable chairman of the land committee (Mr. King), had relied 
upon his own sound practical sense, he would have presented a report far 
less objectionable than that which he has made. He has availed himself 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 507 

of another's aid, and the hand of the senator from Missouri (Mr. Benton), 
is as visible in the composition, as if his name had been subscribed to the 
instrument. We hear again, in this paper, of that which we have so often 
heard repeated before in debate, by the senator from Missouri — the senti- 
ments of Edmund Burke. And what was the state of things in England, 
to which those sentiments were applied ? 

England has too little land, and too many people. America has too 
much land for the present population of the country, and wants people. 
The British crown had owned, for many generations, large bodies of land, 
preserved for game and forest, from which but small revenues were derived. 
It was proposed to sell out the crown lands, that they might be peopled and 
cultivated, and that the royal family should be put on the civil list. Mr. 
Burke supported the proposition by convincing arguments. But what 
analogy is there between the crown lands of the British sovereign, and the 
public lands of the United States ? Are they here locked tip from the 
people, and, for the sake of their game or timber, excluded from sale ? 
Are not they freely exposed in market, to all who want them, at moderate 
prices ? The complaint is, that they are not sold fast enough, iu other 
words, that people are not multiplied rapidly enough to buy them. Pa- 
tience, gentlemen of the land committee, patience ! The new States are 
daily rising in power and importance. Some of them a>e already great 
and flourishing members of the confederacy. And, if you will only ac- 
quiesce in the certain and quiet operation of the laws of God and man, 
the wilderness will quickly teem with people, and be filled with the monu- 
ments of civilization. 

The report of the land committee proceeds to notice and to animadvert 
upon certain opinions of a late Secretary of the Treasury, contained in his 
annual report, and endeavors to connect them with some sentiments ex- 
pressed in the report of the committee on manufactures. That report has 
before been the subject of repeated commentary in the Senate, by the 
senator from Missouri, and of much misrepresentation and vituperation in 
the public press. Mr. Rush showed me the rough draft of that report, and 
I advised him to expunge the paragraphs in question, because I foresaw that 
they would be misrepresented, and that he would be exposed to unjust ac- 
cusation. But knowing the purity of his intentions, believing in the 
soundness of the views which he presented, and confiding in the candor 
of a just public, he resolved to retain the paragraphs. I can not suppose 
the senator from Missouri ignorant of what passed between Mr. Rush and 
me, and of his having, against my suggestions, retained the paragraphs in 
question, because these facts were all stated by Mr. Rush himself, in a let- 
ter addressed to a late member of the House of Representatives, represent- 
ing the district in which I reside, which letter, more than a year ago, was 
published in the western papers. 

I shall say nothing in defense of myself, nothing to disprove the charo-e 
of my cherishing unfriendly feelings and sentiments toward any part of the 



508 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

West. If the public acts in which I have participated, if the uniform tenor 
of my whole life, will not refute such an imputation, nothing that I could 
here say would refute it. 

But I will say something in defense of the opinions of my late patriotic 
and enlightened colleague, not here to speak for himself; and I will vindi- 
cate his official opinions from the erroneous glosses and interpretations 
which have been put upon them. 

Mr. Rush, in an official report which will long remain a monument of 
his ability, was surveying, with a statesman's eye, the condition of America. 
He was arguing in favor of the protective policy — the American system. 
He spoke of the limited vocations of our society, and the expediency of 
multiplying the means of increasing subsistence, comfort, and wealth. He 
noticed the great and the constant tendency of our fellow-citizens to the 
cultivation of the soil, the want of a market for their surplus produce^ 
the inexpediency of all blindly rushing to the same universal employ- 
ment, and the policy of dividing ourselves into various pursuits. He says: 

" The manner in which the remote lands of the United States are selling and 
settling, while it possibly may tend to increase more quickly the aggregate popu- 
lation of the country, and the mere means of subsistence, does not increase 
capital in the same proportion. * * * Any thing that may serve to hold 
back this tendency to diffusion from running too far and too long into an ex- 
treme, can scarcely prove otherwise than salutary. * * * If the population 
of these (a majority of the States, including some western States), not yet re- 
dundant in fact, though appearing to be so, under this legislative incitement to 
emigrate, remain fixed in more instances, as it probably would be by extending the 
motives to manufacturing labor, it is believed that the nation would gain in two 
ways: first, by the more rapid accumulation of capital, and next, by the general 
reduction of the excess of its agricultural population over that engaged in other 
vocations. It is not imagined that it ever would be practicable, even if it were 
desirable, to turn this stream of emigration aside ; but resources, opened through 
the influence of the laws, in new fields of industry, to the inhabitants of the 
States already sufficiently peopled to enter upon them, might operate to lessen, 
in some degree, and usefully lessen, its absorbing force." 

Now, Mr. President, what is there in this view adverse to the West, or 
unfavorable to its interests ? Mr. Rush is arguing on the tendency of the 
people to engage in agriculture, and the incitement to emigrate, produced 
by our laws. Does he propose to change those laws in that particular ? 
Does he propose any new measure ? So far from suggesting any altera- 
tion of the conditions on which the public lands are sold, he expressly 
says, that it is not desirable, if it were practicable, to turn this stream of 
emigration aside. Leaving all the laws in full force, and all the motives to 
emigrate arising from fertile and cheap lands, untouched, he recommends 
the encouragement of a new branch of business, in which all the Union, 
the West as well as the rest, is interested, thus presenting an option to 
population to engage in manufactures or in agriculture, at its own discre- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 509 

tioTi. And does such an option afford just ground of complaint to any- 
one ? Is it not an advantage to all ? Do the land committee desire (I 
am sure they do not) to create starvation in one part of the Union, that 
emigrants may be forced into another ? If they do not, they ought not to 
condemn a multiplication of human employments, by which, as its certain 
consequence, there will be an increase in the means of subsistence and 
comfort. The objection to Mr. Rush, then, is, that he looked at his whole 
country, and at all parts of it; and that while he desired the prosperity 
and growth of the West to advance undisturbed, he wished to build up, 
on deep foundations, the welfare of all the people. 

Mr. Rush knew that there were thousands of the poorer classes who 
never would emigrate ; and that emigration, under the best auspices, was 
far from being unattended with evil. There are moral, physical, pecuniary 
obstacles to all emigration ; and these will increase, as the good vacant 
lands of the West are removed, by intervening settlements further and 
further from society, as it is now located. It is, I believe, Dr. Johnson 
who pronounces, that of all vegetable and animal creation, man is the most 
difficult to be uprooted and transferred to a distant country ; and he was 
right. Space itself, mountains, and seas, and rivers, are impediments. 
The want of pecuniary means, the expenses of the outfit, subsistence and 
transportation of a family, is no slight circumstance. When all these diffi- 
culties are overcome (and how few, comparatively, can surmount them !) 
the greatest of all remains — that of being torn from one's natal spot — 
separated, forever, from the roof under which the companions of his 
childhood were sheltered, from the trees which have shaded him from 
summer's heats, the spring from whose gushing fountain he has'drunk 
in his youth, the tombs that hold the precious relics of his venerated an- 
cestors ! 

But I have said, that the laud committee had attempted to confound the 
sentiments of Mr. Rush with some of the reasoning employed by the com- 
mittee on manufactures against the proposed reduction of the price of the 
public lands. What is that reasoning? Here it is; it will speak for 
itself; and without a single comment will demonstrate how different it is 
from that of the late Secretary of the Treasury, unexceptionable as that 
has been shown to be. 

" The greatest emigration (says the manufacturing committee) that is believed 
now to take place from any of the States, is from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennes- 
see. The effect of a material reduction in the price of the public lands, would 
be, first to lessen the value of real estate in those three States ; secondly to di- 
minish their interest in the public domain, as a common fund for the benefit of 
all the States ; and, thirdly, to offer what would operate as a bounty to further 
emigation from those States, occasioning more and more lands, situated within 
them, to be thrown into the market, thereby not only lessening the value of 
their lands, but draining them, both of their population and labor." 

There are good men in different parts, but especially in the Atlantic por- 



510 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

tion, of the Union, who have been induced to regard lightly this vast national 
property ; who have been persuaded that the people of the West are dissat- 
isfied with the administration of it; and who believe that it will, in the 
end, be lost to the nation, and that it is not worth present care and preser- 
vation. But these are radical mistakes. The great body of the West are 
satisfied, perfectly satisfied, with the general administration of the public 
lands. They would indeed like, and are entitled to, a more liberal ex- 
penditure among thein of the proceeds of the sales. For this, provision is 
made by the bill to which I will hereafter call the attention of the Senate. 
But the great body of the West have not called for, and understand too 
well their real interest to desire, any essential change in the system of sur- 
vey, sale, or price of the lands. There may be a few, stimulated by 
demagogues, who desire change ; and what system is there, what govern- 
ment, what order of human society, in which a few do not desire change ? 

It is one of the admirable properties of the existing system, that it con- 
tains within itself, and carries along, principles of conservation and safety. 
In the progress of its operation, new States become identified with the old, 
in feeling, in thinking, and in interest. Now, Ohio is as sound as any old 
State in the Union, in all her views relating to the public lands. She feels 
that her share in the exterior domain is much more important than would 
be an exclusive right to the few millions of acres left unsold, within her 
limits, accompanied by a virtual surrender of her interest in all the other 
public lands of the United Stales. And I have no doubt, that now, the 
people of the other new States, left to their own unbiased sense of equity 
and justice, would form the same judgment. They can not believe that 
what they have not bought, what, remains the property of themselves and 
all their brethren of the United Stales, in common, belongs to them exclu- 
sively. But if I am mistaken, if they have been deceived by erroneous 
impressions on their mind, made by artful men, as the sales proceed, and 
the land is exhausted, and their population increased, like the State of Ohio, 
they will feel that their true interest points to their remaining copartners 
in the whole national domain, instead of bringing forward an unfounded 
pretension to the inconsiderable remnant which will be then left in their 
own limits. 

And now, Mr. President, I have to say something in respect to the par- 
ticular plan brought forward by the committee on manufactures, for a tem- 
porary appropriation of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands. 

The committee say that this fund is not wanted by the general govern- 
ment, ; that the peace of the country is not likely, from present appear* 
ances, to be speedily disturbed ; and that the general government is 
absolutely embarrassed in providing against an enormous surplus in the 
treasury. While this is the condition of the federal government, the States 
are in want of, and can most beneficially use, that very surplus with which 
we do not know what to do. The powers of the general government are 
limited ; those of the States are ample. If those limited powers authorized 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 511 

an application of the fund to some objects, perhaps there are some others, 
of more importance, to which the powers of the States would be more 
competent, or to which they may apply a more provident care. 

But the government of the whole and of the parts, at last is but one 
government of the same people. In form they are two, in substance one. 
They both stand under the same solemn obligation to promote, by all the 
powers with which they are respectively intrusted, the happiness of the 
people ; and the people, in their turn, owe respect and allegiance to both. 
Maintaining: these relations, there should be mutual assistance to each other 
afforded by these two systems. When the States are full-handed, and the 
coffers of the general government are empty, the States should come to 
the relief of the general government, as many of them did, most promptly 
and patriotically, during the late war. When the conditions of the par- 
ties are reversed, as is now the case, the States wanting what is almost a 
burden to the general government, the duty of this government is to go to 
the relief of the States. 

They were views like these which induced a majority of the committee 
to propose the plan of distribution, contained in the bill now under consid- 
eration. For one, however, I will again repeat the declaration, which I 
made early in the session, that I unite cordially with those who condemn 
the application of any principle of distribution among the several States, 
to surplus revenue derived from taxation. I think income derived from 
taxation stands upon ground totally distinct from that which is received 
from the public lands. Congress can prevent the accumulation, at least 
for any considerable time, of revenue from duties, by suitable legislation, 
lowering or augmenting the imposts ; but it can not stop the sales of the 
public lauds, without the exercise of arbitrary and intolerable power. The 
powers of Congress over the public lands are broader and more compre- 
hensive, than those which they possess over taxatien, and the money pro- 
duced by it. 

This brings me to consider, first, the power of Congress to make the 
distribution. By the second part of the third section of the fourth article 
of the Constitution, Congress " have power to dispose of and make all need- 
ful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property of the 
United States." The power of disposition is plenary, unrestrained, un- 
qualified. It is not limited to a specified object or to a defined purpose, 
but left applicable to any object or purpose which the wisdom of Con- 
gress shall deem fit, acting under its high responsibility. 

The government purchased Louisiana and Florida. May it not apply 
the proceeds of lands within those countries, to any object which the good 
of the Union may seem to indicate ? If there be a restraint in the Consti- 
tution, where is it, what is it ? 

The uniform practice of the government has conformed to the idea of 
its possessing full powers over the public lands. They have been freely 
granted, from time to time, to communities and individuals, for a great 



512 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

variety of purposes. To States for education, internal improvements, pub- 
lic buildings; to corporations for education ; to the deaf and dumb ; to tbe 
cultivators of tbe olive and tbe vine ; to pre-emptioners ; to General Lafay- 
ette, and so fortb. 

The deeds from tbe ceding States, far from opposing, fully warrant tbe 
distribution. That of Virginia ceded tbe land as "a common fund for tbe 
use and benefit of such of tbe United States as have become, or shall be- 
come members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said States, 
Virginia inclusive." The cession was for the benefit of all tbe States. It 
may be argued that the fund must be retained in the common treasury, 
and thence paid out. But, by the bill reported, it will come into the com- 
mon treasury, and then the question, how it shall be subsequently applied 
for the use and benefit of such of the United States as compose the con- 
federacy, is one of modus only. Whether the money is disbursed by tbe 
general government directly, or is paid out upon some equal and just prin- 
ciple, to the States, to be disbursed by them, can not affect the right of 
distribution. If the general government retained the power of ultimate 
disbursement, it could execute it only by suitable agents ; and what agency 
is more suitable than that of the States themselves ? If the States expend 
the money, as the bill contemplates, tbe expenditnre will, in effect, be a dis- 
bursement for the benefit of tbe whole, although the several States are 
organs of the expenditure ; for tbe whole and all the parts are identical. 
And whatever redounds to the benefit of all tbe parts, necessarily con- 
tributes, iu tbe same measure, to tbe benefit of the whole. The great 
question should be, is the distribution upon equal and just principles ? And 
this brino-s me to consider, 

Secondly, tbe terms of the distribution proposed by the bill of tbe com- 
mittee on manufactures. The bill proposes a division of the net proceeds 
of the sales of the public lands, among the several States composing the 
Union, according to their federal representative population, as ascertained 
by the last census ; and it provides for new States that may hereafter be 
admitted into the Union. The basis of tbe distribution, therefore, is 
derived from the Constitution itself, which has adopted the same rule, in 
respect to representation and direct taxes. None could be more just and 
equitable. 

But it has been contended, in tbe land report, that the revolutionary 
States which did not cede their public lands ought not to be allowed to 
come into the distribution. This objection does not apply to tbe purchases 
of Louisiana and Florida, because the consideration for them was paid out 
of the common treasury, and was consequently contributed by all the 
States. Nor has the objection any just foundation, when applied to the 
public lands derived from Virginia, and the other ceding States; because, 
by tbe terms of the deeds, the cessions were made for the use and benefit 
of all the States. The ceding States having made no exception of any 
State, what right has the general government to interpolate in the deeds, 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 513 

and now create an exception ? The general government is a mere trustee, 
holding the domain in virtue of those deeds, according to the terms and 
conditions which they expressly describe ; and it is bound to execute the 
trust accordingly. But how is the fund produced by the public lands now 
expended ? It comes into the common treasury, and is disbursed for the 
common benefit, without exception of any State. The bill only proposes to 
substitute to that object, now no longer necessary, another and more useful 
common object. The general application of the fund will continue, under 
the operation of the bill, although the particular purposes may be varied. 

The equity of the proposed distribution, as it respects the two classes of 
States, the old and the new, must be manifest to the Senate. It proposes 
to assign to the new States, besides the five per centum stipulated for in 
their several compacts with the general government, the further sum of ten 
per centum upon the net proceeds. Assuming the proceeds of the last 
year, amounting to three millions five hundred and sixty-six thousand one 
hundred and twenty-seven dollars and ninety-four cents, as the basis of the 
calculation, I hold in my hand a paper which shows the sum that each of 
the seven new States would receive. They have complained of the exemp- 
tion from taxation of the public lands sold by the general government for 
five years after the sale. If that exemption did not exist, and they were to 
exercise the power of taxing those lands, as the average increase of their 
population is only eight and a half per centum per annum, the additional 
revenue which they would raise, would be only eight and a half per centum 
per annum ; that is to say, a State now collecting a revenue of one hundred 
thousand dollars per annum, would collect only one hundred and eight 
thousand five hundred, if it were to tax the lands recently sold. But by the 
bill under consideration, each of the seven new States will annually receive, 
as its distributive share, more than the whole amount of its annual revenue. 

It may be thought, that to set apart ten per centum to the new States, 
in the first instance, is too great a proportion, and is unjust toward the old 
States. But it will be recollected that, as they populate much faster than 
the old States, and as the last census is to govern in the apportionment, they 
ought to receive more than the old States. If they receive too much at 
the commencement of the term, it may be neutralized by the end of it. 

After the deduction shall have been made of the fifteen per centum al- 
lotted to the- new States, the residue is to be divided among the twenty- 
four States, old and new, composing the Union. What each of the States 
would receive is shown by a table annexed to the report. Taking the 
proceeds of the last year as the standard, there must be added one sixth to 
what is set down in that table as the proportion of the several States. 

If the power and the principle of the proposed distribution be satisfac- 
tory to the Senate, I think the objects can not fail to be equally so. They 
are education, internal improvements, and colonization, all great and be- 
neficent objects, all national in their nature. No mind can be cultivated 
and improved ; no work of internal improvement can be executed in any 

33 



514 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

part of the Union, nor any person of color transported from any of its ports, 
in which the whole Union is not interested. The prosperity of the whole 
is an aggregate of the prosperity of the parts. 

The States, each judging for itself, will select among the objects enumer- 
ated in the bill, that which comports best with its own policy. There is 
no compulsion in the choice. Some will prefer, perhaps, to apply the fund 
to the extinction of debt, now burdensome, created for internal improve- 
ment ; some to new objects of internal improvement ; others to education ; 
and others again to colonization. It may be supposed possible that the 
States will divert the fund from the specified purposes. But against such 
a misapplication we have, in the first place, the security which arises out 
of their presumed good faith ; and, in the second, the power to withhold 
subsequent, if there has been any abuse in previous, appropriations. 

It has been argued that the general government has no power in respect 
to colonization. Waiving that, as not being a question at this time, the 
real inquiry is, have the States themselves any such power? For it is to 
the States that the subject is referred. The evil of a free black population, 
is not restricted to particular States, but extends to, and is felt by, all. It is 
not, therefore, the slave question, but totally distinct from and unconnected 
with it. I have heretofore often expressed my perfect conviction, that the 
general government has no constitutional power which it can exercise in 
regard to African slavery. That conviction remains unchanged. The 
States in which slavery is tolerated, have exclusively in their own hands the 
entire regulation of the subject. But the slave States differ in opinion as 
to the expediency of African colonization. Several of them have signified 
their approbation of it. The Legislature of Kentucky, I believe unani- 
mously, recommended the encouragement of colonization to Congress. 

Should a war break out during the term of five years, that the operation 
of the bill is limited to, the fund is to be withdrawn and applied to the 
vigorous prosecution of the war. If there be no war, Congress, at the end 
of the term, will be able to ascertain whether the money has been benefi- 
cially expended, and to judge of the propriety of continuing the distribu- 
tion. 

Three reports have been made, on this great subject of the public lands, 
during the present session of Congress, besides that of the Secretary of the 
Treasury at its commencement — two in the Senate and one ip the House. 
All three of them agree, first, in the preservation of the control of the gen- 
eral government over the public lands ; and, secondly, they concur in re- 
jecting the plan of a cession of the public lands to the States in which 
they are situated, recommended by the secretary. The land committee of 
the Senate propose an assignment of fifteen per centum of the net pro- 
ceeds, besides the five per centum stipulated in the compacts, (making 
together twenty per centum), to the new States, and nothing to the old. 

The committee on manufactures of the Senate, after an allotment of an 
additional sum of ten per centum to the new States, propose an equal dis- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 515 

tribution of the residue among all the States, old and new, upon equitable 
principles. 

The Senate's land committee, besides the proposal of a distribution, re- 
stricted to the new States, recommends an immediate reduction of the price 
of " fresh lands," to a minimum of one dollar per acre, and to fifty cents per 
acre for lands which have been five years or upward in market. 

The land committee of the House is opposed to all distribution, general 
or partial, and recommends a reduction of the price to one dollar per acre. 

And now, Mr. President, I have a few more words to say, and shall be 
done. We are admonished by all our reflections, and by existing signs, of 
the duty of communicating strength and energy to the glorious Union 
which now encircles our favored country. Among the ties which bind us 
together, the public domain merits high consideration. And if we appro- 
priate, for a limited time, the proceeds of that great resource, among the 
several States, for the important objects which have been enumerated, a 
new and powerful bond of affection and of interest will be added. The 
States will feel and recognize the operation of the general government, not 
merely in power and burdens, but in benefactions and blessings. And the 
general government in its turn will feel, from the expenditure of the money 
which it dispenses to the States, the benefits of moral and intellectual im- 
provement of the people, of greater facility in social and commercial in- 
tercourse, and of the purification of the population of our country, them- 
selves the best parental sources of national character, national union, and 
national greatness. Whatever may be the fate of the particular proposi- 
tion now under consideration, I sincerely hope that the attention of the 
nation may be attracted to this most interesting subject ; that it may justly 
appreciate the value of this immense national property ; and that preserv- 
ing the regulation of it by the will of the whole, for the advantage of the 
whole, it may it be transmitted, as a sacred and inestimable succession, to 
posterity, for its benefit and blessing for ages to come. 



THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 

IN SENATE, JULY 10, 1832. 

[Mr. Clay, both as Commissioner at Ghent and as Secretary 
of State under Mr. J. Q. Adams, had had this subject of the 
North-eastern Boundary under official advisement, and was, 
therefore, well qualified to speak upon it. President Jackson, 
as Mr. Clay thought, had asked advice of the Senate prema- 
turely, as no treaty had been made. He submitted only the 
award of the King of the Netherlands, which seemed to amount 
only to a recommendation. This award was far from being ac- 
ceptable to the State of Maine, or to the country generally. 
Much time had elapsed, and political changes of considerable 
import had occurred in the position of the King of the Nether- 
lands, since this question had been submitted to him. It was a 
serious question, even if he were not disqualified to act by these 
changes. Mr. Clay did not consider that the subject could then 
be acted upon by the Senate, as a part of the treaty-making 
power ; and his opinion had influence in that body. The whole 
subject was finally given the go-by, and the controversy was 
at last settled in 1842 by Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster, 
which gave repose to both countries, after an agitation of nearly 
thirty years. 

Intending to express, in a few words, my sentiments on this subject, I 
have thought I might as well embrace this occasion to do it. The presi- 
dent has called upon the Senate for its advice, as to the award of the King 
of the Netherlands, respecting the north-eastern boundary of the United 
States. This call upon the Senate is made, not in its legislative character, 
but as a component part of the treaty-making power. If the senate, 
therefore, should give any advice on the matter, it must act. in its executive 
capacity, and according to those rules which govern it when so acting. 
Among these, is that which requires the concurrence of two thirds of the 
senators present. 

The language of the Constitution, taken literally, would perhaps require 
a participation of the Senate in the original formation of all treaties. The 



ON THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 517 

words are, " he (the president) shall have power by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, to make treaties ; provided two thirds of the 
senators present concur." In the early stages of his administration, Gen- 
eral Washington endeavored to execute this part of the Constitution ac- 
cording to its literal interpretation ; but he soon found it impracticable, 
and abandoned it. The difficulty of consulting so large a body, as to the 
instructions to be given to a foreign minister ; the variety of propositions 
which may be interchanged in the progress of a negotiation, and the in- 
convenience of a perpetual recurrence to the Senate for its opinion upon 
each of them, beside other considerations, rendered it altogether inexpe- 
dient to take the advice and consent of the Senate previously to the con- 
clusion of treaties. When concluded, President Washington thought the 
purport of the Constitution would be satisfied by submitting them to the 
Senate ; as they could not be said to be made, in the language of the 
Constitution, until the Senate gave its constitutional concurrence to their 
becoming obligatory national compacts. 

Accordingly, from an early period, in the first term of his administration 
down to the present time, the settled and uniform practice of the execu- 
tive government has been, to open negotiations with foreign powers, and 
to conclude such treaties as the president conceives the interests of this 
country demand. When so concluded, they are submitted to the Senate 
for its constitutional advice and consent. And the extent of any agency 
which the Senate exercises, in the formation of a treaty, is limited to 
proposing, as was done in the treaty of Mr. Jay, in 1794, amendments to 
the treaty. These become the subject of future negotiation. 

To this established practice of the government, the present adminis- 
tration has hitherto, itself, conformed. And I presume it is not intended 
to change it, and to revive the impracticable course which General Wash- 
ington was compelled to abandon, from experience. 

What, then, are the circumstances of the case which the president has 
brought here for the consideration of the Senate ? In virtue of several 
treaties between the United States and Great Britain, on all of which 
treaties the Senate had regularly acted and given its advice and consent, 
the disputed north-eastern boundary was submitted to the decision of the 
King of the Netherlands, as the arbitrator between the two contracting 
parties, to decide the controversy. The king has pronounced his judgment, 
and communicated his award to each of the parties. Various questions 
have been started as to the validity of this instrument. Such as, whether 
it was intended as a decision binding the parties ; whether it does not 
transcend the authority vested in the king, by the terms of the submission ; 
whether it can be regarded as any thing more than the advice or recom- 
mendation of the king as to a suitable boundary, which either party is at 
liberty to adopt or not, at his discretion ? 

Whatever may be the real character of this royal act, no treaty, in con- 
sequence of it, has been concluded between the United States and Great 



518 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Britain, as far as the Senate is advised. It stands upon its own isolated 
ground. The president has asked the Senate to advise him whether he 
shall sanction the award, and the report of the committee on- foreign rela- 
tions, now before us, recommends that the government of Great Britain be 
notified of the acquiescence in it by the government of the United States. 

Now, Mr. President, it seems to me, that, in the present state of the 
transaction, there is nothing brought by the president to our consideration, 
on which the Senate, as a part of the treaty-making or executive power, 
can constitutionally act. There is no treaty presented to us for our advice 
and consent, not even a negotiation proposed, nor, in short, any basis what- 
ever for the action of the Senate. If the award of the King of the Neth- 
erlands be binding, it derives its validity from the consent of the parties 
referring the question to him, and from his having decided the case, in 
conformity with the terms of the submission. If he has not decided it, 
or if in deciding it he has transcended the terms of the submission, it is 
not binding and obligatory. The president being the only constitutional 
organ of the people of the United States, in all communications with for- 
eign powers, and moreover charged with the execution of the laws and 
treaties of the United States, is bound to notify the British government 
what are the executive views in relation to the award. If he tells that 
government that this does not hold itself bound by the award, a negotia- 
tion would probably take place between the parties. If, on the contrary, 
the president notifies the British government that the United States are 
bound by the award, he would have to come to Congress for its legislative 
aid in carryiug into effect the award. And should he so come, the question 
of the validity of the award would be as open to the examination of Con- 
gress as it had been to the president. So, if any negotiation which may 
be opened with Great Britain, in relation to the award, should terminate in 
the conclusion of a treaty, the president would be bound to submit that 
treaty to the Senate for its constitutional advice and consent. The presi- 
dent not having applied to Congress for any act of legislation, and having 
submitted no treaty or national compact, in any form, to this body, I think 
there is nothing before us on which we can constitutionally act ; and that 
any advice which, under these circumstances, we might offer to the presi- 
dent, would have no warrant or authority in the Constitution of the United 
States. I can not, therefore, consent to vote for the resolution reported by 
the committee on foreign relations, or to concur in the adoption of any 
other resolution which would imply the right of the Senate to express any 
opinion on the matter in its present state and condition. 

"While this is my deliberate judgment, I have no hesitation to offer to 
the president, if he would attach any consequence to them, my views and 
opinions, as a private citizen, on the whole matter of the north-eastern 
boundary. At Ghent, Great Britain did not assert any right to the terri- 
tory to which she subsequently set up a claim. She sought there to obtain 
by negotiation, and exchange of territory with the United States, a passage 



ON THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 519 

within her own jurisdiction from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to 
Quebec. The British commissioners were told by the American, on that 
occasion, that they had no power to cede away or exchange any part of 
the territory of Massachusetts, which then included Maine. As there were 
many parts of the long line of boundary between the United States and 
Great Britain unsettled and unmarked, it became necessaiy to have it cor- 
rectly ascertained and defined. For this purpose several boards of com- 
missioners were provided for by the treaty of Ghent, in the same manner 
as a similar board had been created by a previous treaty. Most of these 
boards have amicably and satisfactorily settled the questions respectively 
submitted to them. That to which was referred the boundary now in dis- 
pute could not agree. Before this board, Great Britain brought forward 
and claimed as her right, that which she had sought to obtain by negotia- 
tion only, at the conferences of Ghent. And the perseverance with which 
she has prosecuted her pretensions, and the apparent success with which 
they have been so far finally crowned, demonstrate that there never need 
be despair in any cause, however bad. 

During my service in an executive department, it became my duty to 
examine into this claim asserted by Great Britain ; and the result was a 
firm persuasion and a strong conviction that it was unfounded, and that the 
right to the disputed territory was in the State of Maine. It is true that, 
in the treaty of peace of 1783, owing to the imperfect knowledge possessed 
of the country through which the boundary runs, there is some defective 
description, but the intention of the parties I think is clear, and according 
to that intention the right is with Maine, and not in Great Britain. It is 
altogether unnecessary, upon this occasion, to proceed to state all the 
grounds and considerations which brought my mind to that conclusion. 
By doing so, I should be trespassing upon the Senate too much. 

The commissioners not having been able to settle the question, the casus 
foederis, provided for in former treaties, arose, and it became necessaiy to 
submit the question to an arbiter. The King of the Netherlands was se- 
lected for that purpose, and we all know the subsequent events. The 
statements, arguments, and papers of the parties, were all prepared within 
the two countries respectively, and transmitted to Holland, where they 
were submitted to the king. In consenting to refer the question, the late 
administration was impelled by the duty of respecting the national faith, 
as pledged in solemn treaties. And although the King of the Netherlands 
was not the first choice of either party, high confidence was reposed in his 
independence, and in his ability, and integrity, by the late president of the 
United States. 

"With respect to the conduct of the arbitration on the part of our gov- 
ernment, there are some circumstances to be deeply regretted. The plan 
adopted by the late administration was to have retained Mr. Hughes at the 
Hague, elevated him to the rank of minister plenipotentiary, and send out 
Mr. Preble as a public agent to be associated with him. I scarcely know 



520 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

any man so well qualified for such a service as Mr. Hughes. He had the 
benefit of much diplomatic experience, and he had been very successful in 
various negotiations which he had conducted. Commencing bis career as 
secretary of tbe commission at Ghent, he subsequently had creditably rep- 
resented his government at Stockholm, and at St. Petersburg, and at 
Copenhagen, on temporary missions; and he had been some time at the 
court of the Netherlands. Wherever he had been, he uniformly made 
good impressions, and conciliated the esteem and friendship of all whose 
acquaintance he formed. He was well versed in the language of the court 
of the Hague, and well acquainted with all the persons having access to, 
or surrounding the king. Of pleasing and winning manners, a general 
favorite, he was exactly such a person as was well fitted for the service. 
The rank of minister plenipotentiary was necessary to entitle him to ap- 
proach the person of the king, according to established usage. It was a 
point of more importance that this government should have had such a 
representative at Holland, as the British government was there represented 
by an accomplished embassador (Sir Charles Bagot), well known here. 
Mr. Hughes, intimately acquainted with the corps diplomatique, with all 
the avenues of access to the king, and with all persons likely to influence 
the mind or judgment of the monarch or his ministers, would have been 
able to discover and avert the exercise of any undue influence, if any 
should be brought to bear upon the government of the Netherlands in this 
delicate transaction. 

It was among the early acts of this administration to overturn the plan 
which had been thus resolved on by its predecessors, and, in place of Mr. 
Hughes, to send out Mr. Preble, in the sole charge of conducting a difficult 
arbitration. I have had only a limited acquaintance with this gentleman ; 
but he was destitute of all diplomatic experience, had never been in the 
councils of the general government, and I understand could not either speak 
or write the lanaruaare of the court to which he was sent, and where he was 
a total stranger. He was indeed a respectable lawyer in his own State, 
but of what avail would professional eminence be, where tact, insinuating 
manners, and thorough acquaintance with the persons of the court, were 
indispensable ? 

The result of an arbitration conducted under such auspices was to be 
feared. During its progress, and before the king's decision, he was stripped 
by the revolution in Belgium, of the better half of his dominions. Had 
he been ' narch of Holland alone, I think I hazard nothing in saying, 
that, notwithstanding the confidence which Mr. Adams reposed in his per- 
sonal character, he would not have been selected with the concurrence 
of the late administration, as the sovereign arbiter. It was to an inde- 
pendent sovereign, one the extent of whose power and dominions placed 
him at the head of the second-rate states of the continent of Europe, that 
the controversy was submitted. It was not to the King of Holland, but to 
the King of Holland and Belgium, that the question was referred. It was 



ON THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 521 

to a monarch supposed to be unbiased, powerful, and independent, that the 
question was referred, and not to a sovereign who, while lie was arbitrating 
between Great Britain and the United States as to the territory of Maine, 
by the uncontrollable force of events, found one half of his own dominions 
the subject of British arbitration or decision, in conjunction with the other 
allied powers. 

By the loss of Belgium, the political character of the king was entirely 
changed, his identity altered, and he ceased to be that monarch whose 
friendly arbitration had been solicited. Mr. Preble saw the matter in its 
true light, and expected to have been notified by the minister of foreign 
affairs of the king's declining to proceed in the arbitration. But he said 
nothing, and did nothing, to produce that result. Had Mr. Hughes been 
there, he would, by a suggestion or a hint, not at all offensive (such as, 
whether the critical condition of his own domestic affairs did not afford 
sufficient occupation for his majesty, without troubling himself with 
the concerns of foreign governments, in which his own subjects had no 
interest), have prevailed on the king to give up the papers ; or, at least, 
to suspend proceeding in the arbitration until he could receive fresh in- 
structions from his own government, adapted to the great event which had 
happened. 

But nothing was done at the Hague or at Washington to arrest or sus- 
pend the progress of the arbitration. We have neither seen nor heard of 
any instructions from our Secretary of State, founded on the event just 
mentioned. A senator (now in my eye) informed me, that he had con- 
versed with the late Secretary of State about the revolt of Belgium, 
and asked him if it would not put a stop to the arbitration. To which 
the secretary answered, that he supposed of course it would ; and yet, as 
far as we know, he gave no instructions whatever in relation to that event ! 
Under all these circumstances, our surprise at the issue of the arbitration 
ought to be less than it otherwise would have been. If the King of the 
Netherlands had definitively decided the questions actually submitted to 
him, iu consequence of the silent acquiescence of our government in the 
progress of arbitration, the honor and faith of the nation might have 
bound us to submit to the decision, however unjust we deem it. But, Mr. 
President, I can not concur with the committee on foreign relations, in 
considering the paper communicated by the King of Holland to the two 
governments as containing a decision. It seems to me to express only the 
opinion of that monarch, as to what he thinks might be a suitable bound- 
ary, and to operate as a recommendation to the parties to adopt it ; but 
leaving them, at the same time, at full liberty to adopt it or not, at their 
discretion. So far from being a decision, the king professes his inability 
to decide the question submitted to him, for reasons which he states, and 
he does not decide it, according to the terms of the submission. 

Nor can I concur with that committee in believing, that we shall be in 
danger of incurring the reproaches of the world for not submitting to such 



522 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

an award, if award it can be called. I am quite sure, that the chairman 
of the committee on foreign affairs, or the present Secretary of State, would 
be fully competent to make out an argument in behalf of the rights of 
Maine, that would fully vindicate then, and vindicate the course of govern- 
ment, from all reproaches, fouuded on noncompliance with the advice and 
recommendation of the sovereign arbiter. 

Entertaining these sentiments, as a private citizen, I have no hesitation 
in expressing my opinion that the American government, disregarding, and 
declining to be bound by, the award, ought to open a negotiation with 
Great Britain on the subject of this disputed boundary. I have no appre- 
hensions that such a step would, necessarily, bring on war. Great Britain 
might have adopted one of two courses : either to proceed to occupy the 
territory which the sovereign arbiter thinks it would be suitable for her to 
possess, and signified her determination to do so ; or, to communicate to 
our government her willingness to be governed by the advice of the ar- 
biter, and inquired as to the intentions, on that subject, of this government. 
The former course would have been harsh, and might have involved the 
two countries in war. The latter was more respectful, and, having been 
adopted by Great Britain, it will be natural and easy to return an answer 
to the diplomatic note which has been received, stating the grounds and 
arguments which induce the American government to believe itself not 
bound by what has been done by the King of Holland. Such an answer 
would be preliminary to a negotiation, which would necessarily follow. It 
is desirable, undoubtedly, to have all controversies between nations settled, 
and amicably, if possible. But this is not the only question remaining to 
be decided between the two powers, and if that mutual respect and 
friendly disposition which, it is to be hoped, may predominate in the 
official intercourse between the two countries, should prevail, although 
the dispute, by the intervention of the Dutch king, has been somewhat 
complicated, we need not, I think, despair finally of some satisfactory ar- 
rangement. 

These are my private views, Mr. President. But I think the president 
has come to the Senate too soon, or come to it in a wrong character. As 
a part of the executive government, I think the Senate has nothing to do 
with the question, in the present state of it. Holding this opinion, I shall 
vote against the resolution reported by the committee on foreign affairs, and 
I shall vote against any other resolution or proposition which may imply 
or assume a power in the Senate of the United States to act in the case. 
The president, it seems to me, is invested, exclusively, with the power of 
deciding, in the first instance, whether any and what obligations, if any, 
have been created upon the American government, in consequence of tho 
act of the King of the Netherlands ; and whether it be expedient or not 
to open a negotiation with Great Britain. And I think he should be left 
to his constitutional responsibility, to pursue such a course as a sense of 
duty may prompt. 



ON PRESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE 

BANK BILL. 

IN SENATE, JULY 10, 1832. 

[General Jackson's hostility to the Bank of the United 
States, is well understood to have arisen from the refusal of 
certain officers of the hank to submit to his interference in mat- 
ters where he had no right. This resistance of the officers was 
proper ; but the will of General Jackson was not a thing to be 
trifled with. It was rule or ruin with him ; and never was the 
maxim more fully realized than in this case. General Jackson 
held the fate of the bank in his hand, and was resolved to crush 
it out, if he could not have his way in the management of its 
affairs. The connection of the bank with the business of the 
country, and as the fiscal agent of the Government, was on an 
immense scale. As the bank had done so well, and become so 
essential to trade, there was little doubt that its charter would 
be renewed, and the public depended upon it. The veto, there- 
fore, was a great shock to the business of the country. There 
were thirty millions of loan to the great West, and probably twice 
— perhaps thrice — that amount elsewhere ; all of which must be 
paid in the liquidation of the affairs of the bank. The winding 
up of this bank was a complete break-up of the usual channels 
of business throughout the country, and it was undoubtedly 
the primary cause of the great commercial revulsion of 1836-7. 
For, in the regulation and supply of a sound currency, it would 
without doubt have prevented that great disaster. 

It is singular what an amount and perpetuity of popular prej- 
udice against the Bank of the United States General Jackson 
was capable of stirring up. A majority of the people think to 
this day (1856) that the Pennsylvania Bank of the United 
States was the same which General Jackson vetoed, and that its 
failure proved that General Jackson was right. The idea of a 
national bank has been unpopular ever since, and no party could 
bear the odium of such a policy ; and yet the Bank of the 



524 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 







United States was an institution that proved most important to 
the Government and most useful to the country. No party ever 
lost any thing by it, and all parties were benefited. It was the 
best fiscal agent for the government that could be devised ; it 
regulated the currency, and operated as a check on the issues of 
unsound State banks. But as soon as the national bank was 
broken up, the State banks rushed into the vacuum, and flooded 
the country with an unsound currency, the disastrous effects of 
which have never been entirely effaced, simply because no coun- 
try, under a high civilization, can do well without a national 
bank.] 

I have some observations to submit on this question, which I would not 
trespass on the Senate in offering, but that it has some command of leisure, 
in consequence of the conference which has been agreed upon, in respect 
to the tariff. 

A bill to re-charter the bank, has recently passed Congress, after much 
deliberation. In this body, we know tbat there are members enough who 
entertain no constitutional scruples, to make, with the vote by which the 
bill was passed, a majority of two thirds. In the House of Representatives, 
also, it is believed, there is a like majority in favor of the bill. Notwith- 
standing this state of things, the president has rejected the bill, and trans- 
mitted to the Senate an elaborate message, communicating at large his ob- 
jections. The Constitution requires that we should reconsider the bill, and 
that the question of its passage, the president's objections notwithstanding, 
shall be taken by ayes and noes. Respect to him, as well as the injunc- 
tions of the Constitution, require that we should deliberately examine his 
reasons, and reconsider the question. 

The veto is an extraordinary power, which, though tolerated by the Con- 
stitution, was not expected, by the convention, to be used in ordinary cases. 
It was designed for instances of precipitate legislation, in unguarded mo- 
ments. Thus restricted, and it has been thus restricted by all former pres- 
idents, it might not be mischievous. During Mr. Madison's administration 
of eight years, there occurred but two or three cases of its exercise. During 
the last administration, I do not now recollect that it was once. In a period 
little upward of three years, the present chief magistrate has employed the 
veto four times. We now hear quite frequently, in the progress of 
measures through Congress, the statement that the president will veto 
them, urged as an objection to their passage. 

The veto is hardly reconcilable with the genius of representative govern- 
ment. It is totally irreconcilable with it, if it is to be frequently employed 
in respect to the expediency of measures, as well as their constitutionality. 
It is a feature of our government, borrowed from a prerogative of the British 
kin"-. And it is remarkable, that in England it has grown obsolete, not 



ON PKESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 525 

having been used for upward of a century. At the commencement of the 
French Revolution, in discussing the principles of their Constitution, in 
national convention, the veto held a conspicuous figure. The gay, laugh- 
ing population of Paris, bestowed on the king the appellation of Monsieur 
Veto, and on the queen, that of Madame Veto. The convention finally de- 
creed, that if a measure rejected by the king, should obtain the sanction of 
two concurring legislatures, it should be a law, notwithstanding the veto. 
In the Constitution of Kentucky, and perhaps in some other of the State 
Constitutions, it is provided that if, after the rejection of a bill by the gov- 
ernor, it shall be passed by a majority of all the members elected to both 
Houses, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the governor's objections- 
As a co-ordinate branch of the government, the chief magistrate has great 
weight. If, after a respectful consideration of his objections urged against 
a bill, a majority of all the members elected to the Legislature, shall still 
pass it, notwithstanding his official influence, and the force of his reasons, 
ought it not to become a law ? Ought the opinion of one man to overrule 
that of a legislative body, twice deliberately expressed ? 

It can not be imagined that the Convention contemplated the applica- 
tion of the veto, to a question which has been so long, so often, and so 
thoroughly scrutinized, as that of the bank of the United States, by every 
department of the government, in almost every stage of its existence, and 
by the people, and by the State legislatures. Of all the controverted 
questions which have sprung up under our government, not one has been 
so fully investigated as that of its power to establish a bank of the United 
States. More than seventeen years ago, in January, 1815, Mr. Madison 
then said, in a message to the Senate of the United States : 

" Waiving the question of the constitutional authority of the Legislature to 
establish an incorporated bank, as being precluded, in my judgment, by repeated 
recognitions, under varied circumstances, of the validity of such an institution, 
in acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government, 
accompanied by indications, in different modes, of a concurrence of the general 
will of the nation." 

Mr. Madison, himself opposed to the first bank of the United States, 
yielded his own convictions to those of the nation, and all the departments 
of the government thus often expressed. Subsequently to this true but 
6trong statement of the case, the present bank of the United States was 
established, and numerous other acts, of all the departments of government 
manifesting their settled sense of the power, have been added to those 
which existed prior to the date of Mr. Madison's message. 

No question has been more generally discussed, within the last two 
years, by the people at large, and in State Legislatures, than that of the 
bank. And this consideration of it has been prompted by the president 
himself. In the first message to Congress (in December, 1829) he brought 
the subject to the view of that body and the nation, and expressly declared, 






526 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that it could not, for the interest of all concerned, be " too soon" settled. 
In each of his subsequent annual messages, in 1830, and 1831, he again 
invited the attention of Congress to the subject. Thus, after an interval 
of two years, and after the intervention of the election of a new Congress, 
the president deliberately renews the chartering of the bank of the United 
States. And yet his friends now declare the agitation of the question to 
be premature ! It was not premature, in 1829, to present the question, 
but it is premature in 1832 to consider and decide it ! 

After the president had directed public attention to this question, it be- 
came not only a topic of popular conversation, but was discussed in the 
press, and employed as a theme in popular elections. I was myself inter- 
rogated, on more occasions than one, to make a public expression of my 
sentiments ; and a friend of mine in Kentucky, a candidate for the State 
Legislature, told me nearly two years ago, that he was surprised, in an ob- 
scure part of his county (the hills of Benson), where there was but littl© 
occasion for banks, to find himself questioned on the stump, as to the re- 
charter of the bank of the United States. It seemed as if a sort of gen- 
eral order had gone out from head-quarters, to the partisans of the admin- 
istration, everywhere, to agitate and make the most of the question- 
They have clone so, and their condition now reminds me of the fable in- 
vented by Dr. Franklin, of the eagle and the cat, to demonstrate that 
^Esop bad not exhausted invention, in the construction of his memorable 
fables. The eagle, you know, Mr. President, pounced from his lofty flight 
in the air, upon a cat, taking it to be a pig. Having borne off his prize, 
he quickly felt most painfully the paws of the cat, thrust deeply into his 
sides and body. While flying, he held a parley with the supposed pig, 
and proposed to let go his hold, if the other would let him alone. No, 
says puss, you brought me from yonder earth below, and I will hold fast 
to you until you carry me back — a condition to which the eagle readily 
assented. 

The friends of the president, who have been for nearly three years agi- 
tating this question, now turn round upon their opponents, who have 
supposed the president quite serious and in earnest, in presenting it for 
public consideration, and charge them with prematurely agitating it. And 
that for electioneering purposes ! The other side understands perfectly, 
the policy of preferring an unjust charge, in order to avoid a well-founded 
accusation. 

If there be an electioneering motive in the matter, who have been actu- 
ated by it ? Those who have taken the president at his word, and delib- 
erated on a measure which he has repeatedly recommended to their con- 
sideration ? or those who have resorted to all sorts of means to elude the 
question — by alternately coaxing and threatening the bank ; by an extra- 
ordinary investigation into the administration of the bank ; and by every 
species of postponement and procrastination, during the progress of the bilL 

Notwithstanding all these dilatory expedients, a majority of Congress, 



ON PRESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 527 

prompted by the will and the best interests' of the nation, passed the bill. 
And I shall now proceed, with great respect and deference, to examine 
some of the objections to its becoming a law, contained in the president's 
message, avoiding, as much as I can, a repetition of what gentlemen have 
said who preceded me. . 

The president thinks that the precedents, drawn from the proceedings 
of Congress, as to the constitutional power to establish a bank, are neutral- 
ized, by their being two for and two against the authority. H« supposes 
that one Congress, in 1811, and another in 1815, decided against the 
power. Let us examine both of these cases. The LTouse of Representa- 
tives in 1811, passed the bill to recharter the bank, and, consequently, 
affirmed the power. The Senate, during the same year, were divided, 
saventeen and seventeen, and the vice-president gave the casting vote. Of 
the seventeen who voted against the bank, we know from the declaration 
of the senator from Maryland (General Smith), now present, that he en- 
tertained no doubt whatever of the constitutional power of Congress to 
establish a bank, and that he voted on totally distinct ground. Taking 
away his vote and adding it to the seventeen who voted for the bank, the 
number would have stood eighteen for, and sixteen against the power. 
But we know further, that Mr. Gaillard, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Robinson, 
made a part of that sixteen ; and that in 1815, all three of them voted for 
the bank. Take those three votes from the sixteen, and add them to the 
eighteen, and the vote of 1811, as to the question of constitutional power, 
would have been twenty-one and thirteen. And of these thirteen, there 
might have been others, who were not governed in their votes by any 
doubts of the power. 

In regard to the Congress of 1815, so far from their having entertained 
any scruples in respect to the power to establish a bank, they actually 
passed a bank bill, and thereby affirmed the power. It is true that, by 
the casting vote of the speaker of the House of Representatives (Mr. 
Cheves), they rejected another bank bill, not on grounds of want of 
power, but upon considerations of expediency in the particular structure 
of that bank. 

Both the adverse precedents, therefore, relied upon in the message, 
operate directly against the argument which they were brought forward to 
maintain. Congress, by various other acts, in relation to the bank of the 
United States, has again and again sanctioned the power. And I be- 
lieve it may be truly affirmed, that from the commencement of the gov- 
ernment to this day, there has not been a Congress opposed to the bank 
of the United States, upon the distinct ground of a want of power to es- 
tablish it. 

And here, Mr. President, I must request the indulgence to the Senate, 
while I express a few words in relation to myself. 

I voted, in 1811, against the old bank of the United States, and I deliv- 
ered, on that occasion, a speech, in which, among other reasons, I assigned 



528 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that of its being unconstitutional. My speech has been read to the Senate, 
during the progress of this bill, but the reading of it excited no other re- 
gret than that it was read in such a wretched, bungling, mangling manner. 
Durino- a long public life (I mention the fact not as claiming any merit for 
it), the only great question on which I have ever changed my opinion, is 
that of the bank of the United States. If the researches of the senator 
had carried him a little further, he would, by turning over a few more 
leaves of the same book from which he read my speech, have found that 
which I made in 1816, in support of the present bank. By the reasons 
assigned in it for the change of my opinion, I am ready to abide in the 
judgment of the present generation and of posterity. In 1816, being 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, it was perfectly in my power to 
have said nothing and done nothing, and thus have concealed the change 
of opinion my mind had undergone. But I did not choose to remain silent 
and escape responsibility. I chose publicly to avow my actual conversion. 
The war and the fatal experience of its disastrous events had changed 
me. Mr. Madison, Governor Pleasants, and almost all the public men 
around me, my political friends, had changed their opinions from the 
same causes. 

The power to establish a bank is deduced from that clause of the 
Constitution which confers on Congress all powers necessary and proper 
to carry into effect the enumerated powers. In 1811,1 believed a bank 
of the United States not necessary, and that a safe reliance might be 
placed on the local banks, in the administration of the fiscal affairs of the 
government. The war taught us many lessons, and among others de- 
monstrated the necessity of the bank of the United States, to the suc- 
cessful operations of the government. I will not trouble the Senate 
with a perusal of my speech in 1816, but ask its permission to read a few 
extracts : 

" But how stood the case in 1816, when he was called upon to examine the 
powers of the general government to incorporate a national bank? A total 
change of circumstances was presented — events of the utmost magnitude had 
intervened. 

" A general suspension of specie payments had taken place, and this had led 
to a train of circumstances of the most alarming nature. He beheld, dispersed 
over the immense extent of the United States, about three hundred banking in- 
stitutions, enjoying, in different degrees, the confidence of the public, shaken as 
to them all, under no direct control of the general government, and subject to 
no actual responsibility to the State authorities. These institutions were emit- 
ting the actual currency of the United States— a currency consisting of paper, 
on which they neither paid interest or principal, while it was exchanged for the 
paper of the community, on which both were paid. We saw these institutions, 
in fact, exercising what had been considered, at all times, and in all countries, 
one of the highest attributes of sovereignty — the regulation of the current me- 
dium of the country. They were no longer competent to assist the treasury in 
either of the great operations of collection, deposit, or distribution of the public 



ON PKESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 529 

revenues. In fact, the paper which they emitted, and which the treasury, from 
the force of events, found itself constrained to receive, was constantly obstruct- 
ing the operations of that department ; for it would accumulate where it was 
not wanted, and could not be used where it was wanted, for the purposes of 
government, without a ruinous and arbitrary brokerage. Every man who paid 
to or received from the government, paid or received as much less than he 
ought to have done, as was the difference between the medium in which the 
payment was effected and specie. Taxes were no longer uniform. In New 
England, where specie payments had not been suspended, the people were 
called upon to pay larger contributions than where they were suspended. In 
Kentucky as much more was paid by the people, in their taxes, than was paid, 
for example, in the State of Ohio, as Kentucky paper was worth more than 
Ohio paper. 

" Considering, then, that the state of this currency was such that no thinking 
man could contemplate it without the most serious alarm ; that it threatened 
general distress, if it did not ultimately lead to convulsion and subversion of the 
government ; it appeared to him to be the duty of Congress to apply a remedy, 
if a remedy could be devised. A national bank, with other auxiliary measures, 
was proposed as that remedy. Mr. Clay said he determined to examine the 
question with as little prejudice as possible, arising from Ins former opinion ; he 
knew that the safest course to him, if he pursued a cold, calculating prudence, 
was to adhere to that opinion, right or wrong. He was perfectly aware that if 
he changed, or seemed to change it, he should expose himself to some censure ; 
but, looking at the subject with the light shed upon it, by events happening since 
the commencement of the war, he could no longer doubt. * * * He pre- 
ferred to the suggestions of the pride of consistency, the evident interests of the 
community, and determined to throw himself npon their justice and candor." 

The interest which, foreigners hold in the existing bank of the United 
States, is dwelt upon in the message as a serious objection to the re- 
charter. But this interest is the result of the assignable nature of the 
stock ; and if the objection be well founded, it applies to government stock, 
to the stock in local banks, in canal and other companies, created for in- 
ternal improvements, and every species of money or movables in which 
foreigners may acquire an interest. The assignable character of the stock 
is a quality conferred not for the benefit of foreigners, but for that of our 
own citizens. And the fact of its being transferred to them is the effect of 
the balance of trade being against us — an evil, if it be one, which the 
American system will correct. All governments wanting capital resort to 
foreign nations possessing it in superabundance, to obtain it. Sometimes 
the resort is even made by one to another belligerent nation. Duriug our 
revolutionary war we obtained foreign capital (Dutch and French) to aid 
us. During the late war American stock was sent to Europe to sell ; and 
if I am not misinformed, to Liverpool. The question does not depend 
upon the place whence the capital is obtained, but the advantageous use 
of it. The confidence of foreigners in our stocks is a proof of the solidity 
of our credit. Foreigners have no voice in the administration of this 

34 



530 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

bank ; and if they buy its stock, they are obliged to submit to citizens of 
the United States to manage it. The senator from Tennessee (Mr. White), 
asks what would have been the condition of this couutry if, during the late 
war, this bank had existed, with such an interest in it as foreigners now 
hold ? I will tell him. We should have avoided many of the disasters of 
that war, perhaps those of Detroit and at this place. The government would 
have possessed ample means for its vigorous prosecution ; and the interest 
of foreigners, British subjects especially, would have operated upon them, 
not upon us. Will it not be a serious evil to be obliged to remit in specie 
to foreigners the eight millions which they now have in this bank, instead 
of retaining that capital within the country to stimulate its industry and 
enterprise ? 

The president assigns in his message a conspicuous place to the alleged 
injurious operation of the bank on the interests of the western people. 
They ought to be much indebted to him for his kindness manifested to- 
ward them ; although I think they have much reason to deprecate it. The 
people of all the West owe to this bank about thirty millions, which have 
been borowed from it; and the president thinks that the payments for the 
interest, and other facilities which they derive from the operation of the 
bank, are so onerous as to produce " a drain of their currency, which no 
country can bear without inconvenience and occasional distress." His 
remedy is to compel them to pay the whole of the debt which they have 
contracted in a period short of four years. Now, Mr. President, if they can 
not pay the interest without distress, how are they to pay the principal ? 
If they can not pay a part, how are they to pay the whole ? Whether the 
payment of the interest be or be not a burden to them, is a question for 
themselves to decide, respecting which they might be disposed to dispense 
with the kindness of the president. If, instead of borrowing thirty millions 
from the bank, they had borrowed a like sum from a Girard, John Jacob 
Astor, or any other banker, what would they think of one who would come 
to them and say, " Gentlemen of the West, it will ruin you to pay the 
interest on that debt, and therefore I will oblige you to pay the whole of 
the principal in less than four years." Would they not reply, " We know 
what we are about ; mind your own business ; we are satisfied that in ours 
we can make not only the interest on what we loan, but a fair profit be- 
sides." 

A great mistake exists about the western operation of the bank. It is 
not the bank, but the business, the commerce of the West, and the opera- 
tions of government, that occasion the transfer, annually, of money from 
the West to the Atlantic States. What is the actual course of things ? 
The business and commerce of the West are carried on with New Orleans, 
with the southern, and south-western States, and with the Atlantic cities. 
We transport our dead or inanimate produce to New Orleans, and receive 
in return checks or drafts of the bank of the United States at a premium 
of a half per centum. We send by our drovers our live stock to the South 



ON PRESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 531 

and South-west, and receive similar checks in return. With these drafts 
or checks our merchants proceed to the Atlantic cities, and purchase do- 
mestic or foreign goods for western consumption. The lead and fur trade 
of Missouri and Illinois is also carried on principally through the bank of 
the United States. The government also transfers to places where it is 
wanted, through that bank, the sums accumulated at the different land- 
offices, for purchases of the public lands. 

Now all these varied operations must go on ; all these remittances must 
be made, bank of the United States or no bank. The bauk does not 
create, but facilitate them. The bank is a mere vehicle ; just as much so 
as the steamboat is the vehicle which transports our produce to the great 
mart of New Orleans, and not the grower of that produce. It is to con- 
found cause and effect, to attribute to the bank the transfer of money from 
the West to the East. Annihilate the bank to-morrow, and similar trans- 
fers of capital, the same description of pecuniary operations, must be con- 
tinued ; not so well, it is true, but performed they must be, ill or well, 
under any state of circumstances. 

The true questions are, how are they now performed, how were they 
conducted prior to the existence of the bank ? how would they be after it 
ceased ? I can tell you what was our condition before the bank was es- 
tablished; and, as I reason from the past to future experience, under 
analogous circumstances, I can venture to predict what it will probably be 
without the bank. 

Before the establishment of the bank of the United States, the exchange 
business of the West was carried on by a premium, which was generally 
paid on all remittances to the East of two and a half per centum. The 
aggregate amount of all remittances, throughout the whole circle of the 
year, was very great, and instead of the sum then paid, we now pay half 
per centum, or nothing, if notes of the bank of the United States be used. 
Prior to the bank, we were without the capital of the thirty millions which 
that institution now supplies, stimulating our industry and invigorating our 
enterprise. In Kentucky, we have no specie-paying bank, scarcely any 
currency other than that of paper of the bank of the United States and its 
branches. 

How is the West to pay this enormous debt of thirty millions of dollars ? 
It is impossible. It can not be done. General distress, certain, wide- 
spread, inevitable ruin, must be the consequences of an attempt to enforce 
the payment. Depression in the value of all property, sheriffs' sales and 
sacrifices, bankruptcy, must necessarily ensue, and, with them, relief laws, 
paper money, a prostration of the courts of justice, evils from which we 
have just emerged, must again, with all their train of afflictions, revisit our 
country. But it is argued by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. White), 
that similar predictions were made, without being realized, from the down- 
fall of the old bank of the United States. It is, however, to be recollected 
that the old bank did not possess one third of the capital of the present; 



532 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that it had but one office west of the mountains, while the present has 
nine ; and that it had little or no debt due to it in that quarter, while the 
present bank has thirty millions. The war, too, which shortly followed the 
downfall of the old bank, and the suspension of specie payments, which 
soon followed the war, prevented the injury apprehended from the discon- 
tinuance of the old bank. 

The same gentleman further argues that the day of payment must come ; 
and he asks when, better than now ? Is it to be indefinitely postponed? 
is the charter of the present bank to be perpetual ? Why, Mr. President, 
all things — governments, republics, empires, laws, human life — doubtless 
are to have an end ; but shall we therefore accelerate their termination ? 
The West is now young, wants capital, and its vast resources, needing 
nourishment, are daily developing. By-and-by, it will accumulate wealth 
from its industry and enterprise, and possess its surplus capital. The 
charter is not made perpetual, because it is wrong to bind posterity per- 
petually. At the end of the term limited for its renewal, posterity will 
have the power of determining for itself, whether the bank shall then be 
wound up, or prolonged another term. And that question may be de- 
cided, as it now ought to be, by a consideration of the interests of all parts 
of the Union, the West among the rest. Sufficient for the day is the evil 
thereof. 

The president tells us, that if the executive had been called upon to 
furnish the project of a bank, the duty would have been cheerfully per- 
formed ; and he- states that a bank, competent to all the duties which may 
be required by the government, might be so organized as not to infringe 
on our own delegated powers, or the reserved rights of the States. The 
president is a co-ordinate branch of the legislative department. As such, 
bills which have passed both Houses of Congress are presented to him for 
his approval or rejection. The idea of going to the president for the 
project of a law, is totally new in the practice, and utterly contrary to the 
theory of the government. What should we think of the Senate calling 
upon the House, or the House upon the Senate, for the project of a law ? 

In France, the king possessed the initiative of all laws, and none could 
pass without its having been previously presented to one of the chambers 
by the crown through the ministers. Does the president wish to introduce 
the initiative here ? Are the powers of recommendation, and that of veto, 
not sufficient? Must all legislation, in its commencement and in its term- 
ination concentrate in the president? When we shall have reached that 
state of things, the election and annual session of Congress will be a useless 
charge upon the people, and the whole business of government may be 
economically conducted by ukases and decrees. 

Congress does sometimes receive the suggestions, and opinions of the 
heads of departments, as to new laws. And, at the commencement of this 
session, in his annual report, the Secretary of the Treasury stated his rea- 
sons at large, not merely in favor of a bank, but in support of the renewal 



ON PRESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 533 

of the charter of the existing bank. Who could have believed that that 
responsible officer was communicating to Congress opinions directly adverse 
to those entertained by the president himself? When before has it hap- 
pened, that the head of a department recommended the passage of a law 
which, being accordingly passed and presented to the president, is subjected 
to his veto ? What sort of a bank it is, with a project of which the presi- 
dent would have deigned to furnish Congress, if they had applied to him, 
he has not stated. In the absence of such statement, we can only conjec- 
ture that it is his famous treasury bank, formerly recommended by him, 
from which the people have recoiled with the instinctive horror excited by 
the approach of the cholera. 

The message states, that "an investigation unwillingly conceded, and so 
restricted in time as necessarily to make it incomplete and unsatisfactory, 
discloses enough to excite suspicion and alarm." As there is no prospect 
of the passage of this bill, the president's objections notwithstanding, by 
a constitutional majority of two thirds, it can never reach the House of 
Representatives. The members of that House, and especially its distin- 
guished chairman of the committee of ways and means, who reported the 
bill, are, therefore, cut off from all opportunity of defending themselves. 
Under these circumstances, allow me to ask how the president has ascer- 
tained that the investigation was unwillingly conceded ? I have understood 
directly the contrary ; and that the chairman, already referred to, as well 
as other members in favor of the renewal of the charter, promptly con- 
sented to and voted for the investigation. And w r e all know that those in 
support of the renewal could have prevented the investigation, aud that 
they did not. But suspicion and alarm have been excited ! Suspicion 
and alarm ! Against whom is this suspicion ? The House, or the bank, 
or both ? 

Mr. President, I protest against the right of any chief magistrate to 
come into either House of Congress, and scrutinize the motives of its 
members ; to examine whether a measure has been passed with prompti- 
tude or repugnance ; and to pronounce upon the willingness or unwilling- 
ness with which it has been adopted or rejected. It is an interference in 
concerns which partake of a domestic nature. The official and constitu- 
tional relations between the president and the two Houses of Congress 
subsist with them as organized bodies. His action is confined to their 
consummated proceedings, aud does not extend to measures in their inci- 
pient stages, during their progress through the Houses, nor to the motives 
by which they are actuated. There are some parts of this message that 
ought to excite deep alarm ; and that especially in which the president an- 
nounces, that each public officer may interpret the Constitution as he plea- 
ses. His lauguage is, " Each public officer, who takes an oath to support 
the Constitution, swears that he will support it as he understands it, and 
not as it is understood by others." * * * " The opinion of the judges 
has no more authority over Congress than the opinion of Congress has 



534 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

over the judges ; and on that point the president is independent of both." 
Now, Mr. President, I conceive, with great deference, that the president has 
mistaken the purport of the oath to support the Constitution of the 
United States. No one swears to support it as he understands it, but to 
support it simply as it is in truth. All men are bound to obey the laws, 
of which the Constitution is the supreme ; but must they obey them as 
they are, or as they understand them ? If the obligation of obedience is 
limited and controlled by the measure of information ; in other words, if 
the party is bound to obey the Constitution only as he understands it ; 
what would be the consequence ? The judge of an inferior court would 
disobey the mandate of a superior tribunal, because it Avas not in conform- 
ity to the Constitution, as he understands it ; a custom-house officer would 
disobey a circular from the treasury department, because contrary to the 
Constitution, as he understands it ; an American minister would disregard 
an instruction from the president, communicated from the Department of 
State, because not agreeable to the Constitution, as he understands it ; and 
a subordinate officer in the army or navy, would violate the orders of his 
superior, because they were not in accordance with the Constitution, as he 
understands it. We should have nothing settled, nothing stable, nothing 
fixed. There would be general disorder and confusion throughout every 
branch of administration, from the highest to the lowest officers — universal 
nullification. For what is the doctrine of the president but that of South 
Carolina applied throughout the Union ? The president independent both 
of Congress and the Supreme Court ! only bound to execute the laws of 
the one and the decisions of the other, as far as they conform to the Consti- 
tution of the United States, as far as he understands it ! Then it should 
be the duty of every president, on his installation into office, to carefully 
examine all the acts in the statute book, approved by his predecessors, and 
mark out those which he was resolved not to execute, and to which he 
meant to apply this new species of veto, because they were repugnant to 
the Constitution as he understands it. And, after the expiration of every 
term of the Supreme Court, he should send for the record of its decisions, 
and discriminate between those which he would, and those which he would 
not, execute, because they were or were not agreeable to the Constitution, 
as he understands it. 

There is another constitutional doctrine contained in the message, which 
is entirely new to me. It asserts that " the government of the United 
States have no constitutional power to purchase lands within the States," 
except " for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other 
needful buildings ;" and even for these objects, only " by the consent of the 
Legislature of the State in which the same shall be." Now sir, I had sup- 
posed that the right of Congress to purchase lands in any State was in- 
contestable ; and, in point of fact, it probably at this moment owns land 
in every State of the Union, purchased for taxes, or as a judgment or mort- 
gage creditor. And there are various acts of Congress which regulate the 



ON PRESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 535 

purchase and transfer of such lands. The advisers of the president have 
confounded the faculty of purchasing lands with the exercise of exclusive 
jurisdiction, which is restricted by the Constitution to the forts and other 
buildings described. 

The message presents some striking instances of discrepancy. First, it 
contests the right to establish one bank, and objects to the bill that it 
limits and restrains the power of Congress to establish several. Second, it 
urges that the bill does not recognize the power of State taxation gen- 
erally ; and complains that facilities are afforded to the exercise of that 
power in respect to the stock held by individuals. Third, it objects that 
any bonus is taken, and insists that not enough is demanded. And fourth, 
it complains that foreigners have too much influence, and that stock trans- 
ferred loses the privilege of representation in the elections of the bank, 
which, if it were retained, would give them more. 

Mr. President, we are about to close one of the longest and most ardu- 
ous sessions of Congress under the present Constitution ; and when we re- 
turn among our constituents, what account of the operations of their 
government shall we be bound to communicate ? We shall be compelled 
to say, that the Supreme Court is paralyzed, and the missionaries retained 
in prison in contempt of its authority, and in defiance of numerous treaties 
and laws of the United States ; that the executive, through the Secretary 
of the Treasury, sent to Congress a tariff bill which would have destroyed 
numerous branches of our domestic industry, and to the final destruction 
of all ; that the veto has been applied to the bank of the United States, 
our only reliance for a sound and uniform currency ; that the Senate has 
been violently attacked for the exercise of a clear constitutional power ; 
that the House of Representatives have been unnecessarily assailed ; and 
that the president has promulgated a rule of action for those who have 
taken the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, that must, 
if there be practical conformity to it, introduce general nullification, and 
end in the absolute subversion of the government. 



THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 

IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 12, 1833. 

[We find Mr. Clay, in this speech, occupying one of his emi- 
nently historical positions — an epoch of his growing fame. When 
he came to Washington, at the opening of the second session of 
the Twenty-second Congress, South Carolina had passed her 
laws of nullification, and President Jackson had issued his 
proclamation, that the federal laws involved in the controversy 
would be executed. Here was a civil war declared, and it was 
not easy to see how a collision would be avoided. But, in this 
state of things, a new demonstration turned up, by the action 
of South Carolina, to wit, that she had not yet resolved on any 
thing further than a trial in the courts of the questions in dis- 
pute. Mr. Clay, who had considered a collision inevitable, from 
the previous aspects of the case, on this new phase, instantly 
conceived a mode of conciliation. President Jackson, finding 
his precipitate movement disapproved throughout the entire 
South, sought a method of retreat by prompting his friends in 
Congress to bring forward a new tariff bill, which soon appeared 
in the House of Representatives under the name of Mr. Ver- 
planck's bill. This bill was constructed so as to break down the 
system of protection, and if it had passed, would doubtless have 
satisfied South Carolina. General Jackson, who was always, 
when left to his passions, running into extremes, and vd\o was 
never a statesman, did not, perhaps, see the immense calamity 
which such a measure as Mr. Verplanck's bill, consummated, 
would bring upon the country, and willing to do Mr. Clay and 
his friends a disservice, threw all the weight of his influence on 
the side of the new measure. The greatest promptitude was 
demanded of Mr. Clay to anticipate and ward off this move- 
ment by a measure of his own, and with little aid but his own 
intuitive perceptions, he brought forward in the Senate his fa- 
mous Compromise Tariff of 1833. It took both Houses of Con- 
gress and the whole country by surprise, and the first impression 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 537 

was decidedly favorable. It was doubtless one of the baldest 
measures which a statesman ever conceived. To have been sus- 
tained in it at the time, by large majorities in both Houses of 
Congress, and afterward to realize from it the approbation and 
gratitude of all parties of the American people, North and South, 
was a signal triumph of genius. Nothing but a genius of an. 
extraordinary character could have devised such a complicated 
measure so suddenly, and adapted it to the exigences of the 
case. The following is the speech by which he introduced it to 
the Senate.] 

I yesterday, sir, gave notice that I should ask leave to introduce a bill 
to modify the various acts imposing duties on imports. I at the same 
time added, that I should, with the permission of the Senate, offer an ex- 
planation of the principle on which that hill is founded. I owe, sir, an 
apology to the Senate for this course of action, because, although strictly 
parliamentary, it is, nevertheless, out of the usual practice of this body ; 
hut it is a course which I trust that the Senate will deem to he justified 
by the interesting nature of the subject. I rise, sir, on this occasion, ac- 
tuated by no motives of a private nature, by no personal feelings, and for 
no personal objects ; but exclusively in obedience to a sense of the duty 
which I owe to my country. I trust, therefore, that no one will auticipate 
on my part any ambitious display of such humble powers as I may pos- 
sess. It is sincerely my purpose to present a plain, unadorned, and naked 
statement of facts conuected with the measure which I shall have the 
honor to propose, and with the condition of the country. When I survey, 
sir, the whole face of our country, I behold all around me evidences of the 
most gratifying prosperity, a prospect which would seem to be without a 
cloud upon it, were it not that through all parts of the country there exist 
great dissensions and unhappy distinctions, which, if they can possibly 
he relieved and reconciled by any broad scheme of legislation adapted 
to all interests, and regarding the feelings of all sections, ought to be 
quieted ; and leading to which object any measure ought to be well re- 
ceived. 

In presenting the modification of the tariff laws, which I am now about 
to submit, I have two great objects in view. My first object looks to the 
tariff. I am compelled to express the opinion, formed after the most de- 
liberate reflection, and on full survey of the whole country, that, whether 
rightfully or wrongfully, the tariff stands in imminent danger. If it should 
he preserved during this session, it must fall at the next session. By what 
circumstances, aud through what causes has arisen the necessity for this 
change in the policy of our country, I will not pi etend now to elucidate. 
Others there are, who may differ from the impressions which my mind has 
received upon this point. Owing, however, to a variety of concurrent 



538 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

causes, the tariff, as it now exists, is in imminent danger, and if the system 
can be preserved beyond the next session, it must be by some means not 
now within the reach of human sagacity. The fall of that policy, sir, 
would be productive of consequences calamitous indeed. When I look 
to the variety of interests which are involved, to the number of individuals 
interested, the amount of capital invested, the value of the buildings erected, 
and the whole arrangement of the business for the prosecution of the va- 
rious branches of the manufacturing art, which have sprung up under the 
fostering care of this government, I can not contemplate any evil equal to 
the sudden overthrow of all those interests. History can produce no par- 
allel to the extent of the mischief which would be produced by such a 
disaster. The repeal of the edict of Nantes itself was nothing in com- 
parison with it. That condemned to exile, and brought to ruin, a great 
number of persons. The most respectable portion of the population of 
France was condemned to exile and ruin by that measure. But in my 
opinion, sir, the sudden repeal of the tariff policy would bring ruin and 
destruction on the whole people of this country. There is no evil, in my 
opinion, equal to the consequences which would result from such a catas- 
trophe. •„ 

What, sir, are the complaints which unhappily divide the peeple of this 
great country ? On the one hand it is said, by those who are opposed to 
the tariff, that it unjustly taxes a portion of the people, and paralyzes their 
industry ; that it is to be a perpetual operation ; that there is to be no end 
to the system ; which, right or wrong, is to be urged to their inevitable 
ruin. And what is the just complaint, on the other hand, of those who 
support the tariff? It is, that the policy of the government is vacillating 
and uncertain, and that there is no stability in our legislation. Before 
one set of books is fairly opened, it becomes necessary to close them, 
and to open a new set. Before a law can be tested by experiment, another 
is passed. Before the present law has gone into operation ; before it is yet 
nine months old ; passed, as it was, under circumstances of extraordinary 
deliberation, the fruit of nine months' labor; before we know any thing of 
its experimental effects, and even before it commences its operations ; we 
are required to repeal it. On one side we are urged to repeal a system 
which is fraught with ruin ; on the other side, the check now imposed on 
enterprise, and the state of alarm in which the public mind has been thrown, 
render all prudent men desirous, looking ahead a little way, to adopt a 
state of things, on the stability of which they may have reason to count. 
Such is the state of feeling on the one side and on the other. I am anx- 
ious to find out some principle of mutual accommodation, to satisfy, as far as 
practicable, both parties — to increase the stability of our legislation ; and 
at some distant day — but not too distant, when we take into view the mag- 
nitude of the interests ■ lich are involved — to bring down the rate of 
duties to that revenue sia dard, for which our opponents have so long con- 
tended. The basis on which I wish to found this modification is one 



J 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 539 

of time ; and the several parts of the bill to which I am about to call 
the attention of the Senate, are founded on this basis. I propose to give 
protection to our manufactured articles, adequate protection for a length 
of time, which, compared with the length of human life, is very long, but 
which is short, in proportion to the legitimate discretion of every wise 
and parental system of government ; securing the stability of legislation, 
and allowing time for a gradual reduction on one side, and on the other 
proposing to reduce the duties to that revenue standard, for which the 
opponents of the system have so long contended. I will now proceed to 
lay the provisions of the bill before the Senate, with a view to draw their 
attention to the true character of the bill. 

(Mr. Clay then proceeded to read the first section of the bill.) 

According to this section, it will be perceived that it is proposed to 
come down to the revenue standard at the end of little more than nine 
years and a half, giving a protection to our own manufactures which I 
hope will be adequate, during the intermediate time. 

[Mr. Clay here recapitulated the provisions of the sections, and showed by 
various illustrations how they would operate ; and then proceeded to read and 
comment upon the second section of the bill.] 

It will be recollected, that at the last session of Congress, with a view to 
make a concession to the southern section of the country, low-price! wool- 
ens, those supposed to enter into the consumption of slaves and the poorer 
classes of persons, were taken out of the general class of duties on woolens, 
and the duty on them reduced to five per centum. It will be also recol- 
lected, that at that time the gentlemen from the South said that this con- 
cession was of no consequence, and that they did not care for it, and I be- 
lieve that they do not now consider it of any greater importance. As, 
therefore, it has failed of the purpose for which it was taken out of the 
common class, I think it ought to be brought back again, and placed by 
the side of the other description of woolens, and made subject to the same 
reduction of duty as proposed by this section. 

[Having next read through the third section of the bill, Mr. Clay said :] 

After the expiration of a term of years, this section lays down a rule by 
which the duties are to be reduced to the revenue standard, which has 
been so long and so earnestly contended for. Until otherwise directed, 
and in default of provision being made for the wants of the government in 
1842, a rule is thus provided for the rate of duties thereafter, Congress 
being, in the mean time, authorized to adopt any other rule which the ex- 
igences of the country, or its financial condition, may require. That is to 
say, if, instead of the duty of twenty per centum proposed, fifteen or seven- 
teen per centum of duty is sufficient, or twenty-five per centum should be 
found necessary, to produce a revenue to defray the expenses of an econom- 



540 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ical administration of the government, there is nothing to prevent either 
of those rates, or any other, from being fixed upon ; while the rate of 
twenty per centum is introduced to guard against any failure on the part 
of Congress to make the requisite provision in due season. 

This section of the bill contains also another clause, suggested by that 
spirit of harmony and conciliation which I pray may preside over the coun- 
cils of the Union at this trying moment. It provides (what those persons 
who are engaged in manufactures have so long anxiously required for their 
security) that duties shall be paid in ready money ; and we shall thus get 
rid of the whole of that credit system, into which an inroad was made, in 
regard to woolens, by the act of the last session. This section further con- 
tains a proviso that nothing in any part of this act shall be construed to 
interfere with the freest exercise of the power of Congress to lay any 
amount of duties, in the event of war breaking out between this country 
and any foreign power. 

[Mr. Clay then read the fourth section of the bill.] 

One of the considerations strongly urging for a reduction of the tariff at 
this time is, that the government is likely to be placed in a dilemma by 
having an overflowing revenue ; and this apprehension is the ground of an 
attempt totally to change the protective policy of the country. The section 
which I have read is an effort to guard against this evil, by relieving alto- 
gether from duty a portion of the articles of import now subject to it. 
Some of these would, under the present rate of duty upon them, produce a 
considerable revenue ; the article of silks alone would yield half a million 
of dollars per annum. If it were possible to pacify present dissensions, and 
let things take their course, I believe that no difficulty need be apprehend- 
ed. If the bill which this body passed at the last session of Congress, and 
has again passed at this session, shall pass the other House, and become a 
law, and the gradual reduction of duties should take place which is con- 
templated by the first section of this bill, we shall have settled two (if not 
three) of the great questions which have agitated this country, that of the 
tariff, of the public lands, and, I will add, of internal improvement also. 
For, if there should still be a surplus revenue, that surplus might be ap- 
plied, until the year 1842, to the completion of the works of internal im- 
provement already commenced ; and, after 1842, a reliance for all funds 
for purposes of internal improvement should be placed upon the operation 
of the land bill, to which I have already referred. 

It is not my object, in referring to that measure in connection with that 
which I am about to propose, to consider them as united in their fate, 
being desirous, partial as I may be to both, that each shall stand or fall 
upon its own intrinsic merits. If this section of the bill, adding to the 
number of fre3 articles, should become law, along with the reduction of 
duties proposed by the first section of the bill, it is by no means sure that 
we shall have any surplus revenue at all. I have been astonished indeed 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 541 

at the process of reasoning by which the Secretary of the Treasury has ar- 
rived at the conclusion, that we shall have a surplus revenue at all, though 
I admit that such a conclusion can be arrived at in no other way. But 
what is this process ? Duties of a certain rate now exist. The amount 
which they produce is known ; the secretary, proposing a reduction of the 
rate of duty, supposes that the duties will be reduced in proportion to the 
amount of the reduction of duty. Now no calculation can be more uncer- 
tain than that. Though perhaps the best that the secretary could have 
made, all is still all uncertainty ; dependent upon the winds and waves, on 
the mutations of trade, and on the course of commercial operations. If 
there is any truth in political economy, it can not be that result will agree 
with the prediction ; for we are instructed by all experience that the con. 
sumption of any article is in proportion to the reduction of its price, and 
that in general it may be taken as a rule, that the duty upon an article 
forms a portion of its price. I do not mean to impute any irmproper design 
to any one ; but, if it had been so intended, no scheme for getting rid of 
the tariff could have been more artfully devised to effect its purposes, than 
that which thus calculated the revenue, and, in addition, assumed that the 
expenditure of the government every year would be so much, and so forth. 
Can any one here say what the future expenditure of the government will 
be ? In this young, great, and growing community, can Ave say what will 
be the expenditure of the government even a year hence, much less what 
it will be three, or four, or five years hence ? Yet it has been estimated, 
on assumed amounts, founded on such uncertain data, both of income and 
expenditure, that the revenue might be reduced so many millions a year ! 

I ask pardon for this digression, and return to the examination of ar- 
ticles in the fourth section, which are proposed to be left free of duty. 
The duties on these articles now vary from five to ten per centum ad valo- 
rem ; but low as they are, the aggregate amount of revenue which they 
produce is considerable. By the bill of the last session, the duties on 
French silks was fixed at five per centum, and that on Chinese silks at ten 
per centum ad volorem. By the bill now proposed the duty on French 
silks is proposed to be repealed, leaving the other untouched. I will 
frankly state why I made this distinction. It has been a subject of anxious 
desire with me to see our commerce with France increased. France, though, 
not so large a customer in the great staples of our country as Great Britain, 
is a great growing customer. I have been much struck with a fact going to 
prove this, which accidentally came to my knowledge the other day ; which 
is, that within the short period of fourteen years, the amount of consump- 
tion in France of the great southern staple of cotton has been tripled. 
Again, it is understood that the French silks of the lower grades of quality 
can not sustain a competition with the Chinese without some discrimination 
of this sort. I have understood, also, that the duty imposed upon this ar- 
ticle at the last session has been very much complained of on the part of 
France ; and, considering all the circumstances connected with the relations 



542 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

between the two governments, it appears to me to be desirable to make 
this discrimination in favor of the French product. If the Senate should 
think differently, I shall be content. If, indeed, they should think proper 
to strike out this section altogether, I shall cheerfully submit to their de- 
cision. 

[After reading the fifth and sixth sections, Mr. Clay said :] 

I will now take a few of some of the objections which will be made to 
the bill. It may be said that the act is prospective, that it binds our suc- 
cessors, and that we have no power thus to bind them. It is true that the 
act is prospective, and so is almost every act which we ever passed, but we 
can repeal it the next clay. It is the established usage to give all acts a 
prospective operation. In every tariff there are some provisions which go 
into operation immediately, and others at a future time. Each Congress 
legislate according to their own views of propriety ; their act does not bind 
their successors, but creates a species of public faith, which will not rashly 
be broken. But if this bill shall go into operation, as I hope, even against 
hope, that it may, I doubt not that it will be adhered to by all parties. 
There is but one contingency which will render a change necessary, and 
that is the intervention of a war, which is provided for in the bill. The 
hands of Congress are left untied in this event, and they will be at liberty 
to resort to any mode of taxation, which they may propose. But if we 
suppose peace to continue, there will be no motive for disturbing the ar- 
rangement, but on the contrary, every motive to carry it into effect. In 
the next place, it will be objected to the bill, by the friends of the protec- 
tive policy, of whom I hold myself to be one, for my mind is immutably 
fixed in favor of that policy, that it abandons the power of protection. 
But I contend, in the first place, that a suspension of the exercise of the 
power is not an abandonment of it ; for the power is in the Constitution 
according to our theory, was put there by its framers, and can only be dis- 
lodged by the people. After the year 1842, the bill provides that the power 
shall be exercised in a certain mode. There are four modes by which the 
industry of the country can be protected. 

First, the absolute prohibition of rival foreign articles that are totally 
unattempted by the bill ; but it is competent to the wisdom of the govern- 
ment to exert the power whenever they wish. Second, the imposition of 
duties in such a manner as to have no reference to any object but revenue. 
When we had a large public debt in 1816, the duties yielded thirty- 
seven millions, and paid so much more of the debt, and subsequently they 
yielded but eight or ten millions, and paid so much less of the debt. Some- 
times we have to trench on the sinking-fund. Now we have no public 
debt to absorb the surplus revenue, and no motive for continuing the duties. 
No man can look at the condition of the country, and say that we can 
carry on this system with accumulating revenue, and no practical way of 
expending it. The third mode Avas attempted last session, in a resolution 



V 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 543 

which I had the honor to submit last year, and which in fact ultimately 
formed the basis of the act which finally passed both Houses. This was to 
raise as much revenue as was wanted for the use of the government, and 
no more, but to raise it from the protected and not from the unprotected 
articles. I will say, that I regret most deeply that the greater part of the 
country will not suffer this principle to prevail. It ought to prevail ; and 
the day, in my opinion, will come, when it will be adopted as the perma- 
nent policy of the country. Shall we legislate for our own wants or that 
of a foreign country ? To protect our own interests in opposition to for- 
eign legislation was the basis of this system. The fourth mode in which 
protection can be afforded to domestic industry, is to admit free of duty 
every article which aided the operations of the manufacturers. These are 
the four modes for protecting our industry ; and to those who say the bill 
abandons the power of protection, I reply, that it does not touch that pow- 
er ; and that the fourth mode, so far from being abandoned, is extended 
and upheld by the bill. The most that can be objected to the bill by\ 
those with whom I co-operate to support the protective system, is, that, in j 
consideration of nine and a half years of peace, certainty, and stability, the 
manufacturers relinquished some advantages which they now enjoy. What 
is the principle which has always been contended for in this and in the 
other House ? After the accumulation of capital and skill, the manufac- 
turers will stand alone, unaided by the government, in competition with the 
imported articles from any quarter. Now give us time ; cease all fluctua- 
tions and agitations, for nine years, and the manufacturers in every branch 
will sustain themselves against foreign competition. If we can see our 
way clearly for nine years to come, w r e can safely leave to posterity to pro- 
vide for the rest. If the tariff be overthrown, as may be its fate next ses- 
sion, the country will be plunged into extreme distress and agitation. I 
want harmony. I wish to see the restoration of those ties which have 
carried us triumphantly through two wars. I delight not in this perpetual 
turmoil. Let us have peace, and become once more united as a band of 
brothers. 

It may be said that the farming interest can not subsist under a twenty 
per centum ad valorem duty, My reply is, " Sufficient for the day is the 
evil thereof." I will leave it to the clay when the reduction takes effect 
to settle the question. When the reduction takes place, and the farmer 
can not live under it, what will he do ? I will tell you what he ought to 
do. He ought to try it — make a fair experiment of it — and if he can not 
live under it, let him come here and say that he is bankrupt and ruined. 
If then nothing can be done to relieve him, sir, I will not pronounce the 
words, for I will believe that something will be done, and that relief will 
be afforded, without hazarding the peace and integrity of the Union. The 
confederacy is an excellent contrivauce. but it must be managed with deli- 
cacy and skill. There are an infinite variety of prejudices and local in 
terests to be regarded, but all should be made to yield to the Union. 



544 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

If the system proposed can not be continued, let us try some intermediate 
system before we think of any other dreadful alternative. Sir, it will be 
said, on the other hand — for the objections are made by the friends of 
protection, principally — that the time is too long ; that the intermediate 
reductions are too inconsiderable, and that there is no guaranty that, at the 
end of the time stipulated, the reduction proposed would be allowed to take 
effect. In the first place, should be recollected the diversified interests of 
the country ; the measures of the government which preceded the estab- 
lishment of manufactures; the public faith in some degree pledged for 
their security ; and the ruin in which rash and hasty legislation would in-f 
volve them. I will not dispute about terms. It would not, in a court of 
justice, be maintained that the public faith is pledged for the protection 
of manufactures; but there are other pledges which men of honor are 
bound by besides those of which the law can take cognizance. 

If we excite, in our neighbor, a reasonable expectation which induces 
him to take a particular course of business, we are in honor bound to re- 
deem the pledge thus tacitly given. Can any man doubt that a large portion 
of our citizens believed that the system would be permanent ? The whole 
country expected it. The security against any change of the system pro- 
posed by the bill, is in the character of the bill, as a compromise between 
two conflicting parties. If the bill should be taken by common consent, 
as we hope it will be, the history of the re venue will be a guaranty of its 
permanence. The circumstances under which it was passed will be known 
and recorded ; and no one will disturb a system which was adopted with a 
view to give peace and tranquillity to the country. 

The descending gradations by which I propose to arrive at the minimum 
of duties, must be gradual. I never would consent to any precipitate op- 
eration to bring distress and ruin on the community. 

Now, viewing it in this light, it appears that there are eight years and 
a half, and nine years and a half, taking the ultimate time, which would 
be an efficient protection, the remaining duties will be withdrawn by a 
biennial reduction. The protective principle must be said to be, in some 
measure, relinquished at the end of eight years and a half. This period 
can not appear unreasonable, and I think that no member of the Senate, 
or any portion of the country, ought to make the slightest objection. It 
now remains for me to consider the other objection — the want of guaranty 
to there being an ulterior continuance of the duties imposed by the bill, on 
the expiration of the term which it prescribes. The best guaranty will be 
found in the circumstances under wdiich the measure would be passed. If 
it passes by common consent ; if it is passed with the assent of a portion — 
a considerable portion of those who have directly hitherto supported this 
system, and by a considerable portion of those who opposed it — if they 
declare their satisfaction with the measure, I have no doubt the rate of 
duties guarantied will be continued after the expiration of the term, if the 
country contiuues at peace. And, at the end of the term, when the ex- 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 545 

periment will have been made of the efficiency of the mode of protection 
fixed by the bill, while the constitutional question has been suffered to lie 
dormaut, if war should render it necessary, protection might be carried up 
to prohibition ; while if the country should remain at peace, and this 
measure go into full operation, the duties will be gradually lowered down 
to the revenue standard, which has been so earnestly wished for. 

But suppose that I am wrong in all these views, for there are no guar- 
anties, in one sense of the term, of human infallibility. Suppose a differ- 
ent state of things in the South ; that this Senate, from causes which I 
shall not dwell upon now, but which are obvious to every reflecting man 
in this country — causes which have operated for years past, and which 
continue to operate — suppose, for a moment, that there should be a major- 
ity in the Senate, in favor of the southern views, and that they should repeal 
the whole system at once, what guaranty would we have that the repeal- 
ing of the law would not destroy those great interests which it is so import- 
ant to preserve ? What guarauty will you have that the thunders of thoso 
powerful manufacturers will not be directed against your capitol, because 
of this abandonment of their interests, and because you have given them 
no protection against foreign legislation ? Sir, if you carry your measure 
of repeal without the consent, at least, of a portion of those who are 
interested in the preservation of manufactures, you have no security, no 
guaranty, no certainty, that any protection will be continued. But if the 
measure should be carried by the common consent of both parties, we shall 
have all security ; history will faithfully record the transaction ; narrate 
under what circumstances the bill was passed ; that it was a pacifying 
measure ; that it was as oil poured from the vessel of the Union to restore 
peace and harmony to the country. When all this was known, what 
Congress, what Legislature, would mar the guaranty ? What man who 
is entitled to deserve the character of an American statesman, would stand 
up in his place in either House of Congress, and disturb this treaty of peace 
and amity ? 

Sir, I will not say that it may not be disturbed. All that I say is, that 
here is all the reasonable security that can be desired by those on the one 
side of the question, and much more than those on the other would have 
by any unfortunate concurrence of circumstances. Such a repeal of the 
whole system should be brought about as would be cheerfully acquiesced 
in by all parties in this country. All parties may find in this measure 
some reasons for objection. And what human measure is there which is 
free from objectionable qualities? It has been remarked, and justly re- 
marked, by the great father of our country himself, that if that great work 
which is the charter of our liberties, and under which we have so long 
flourished, had been submitted, article by article, to all the different States 
composing this Union, that the whole would have been rejected ; and yet 
when the whole was presented together, it was accepted as a whole. I 
will admit that my friends do not get all they could wish for ; and the 

35 



546 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

gentlemen on the other side do not obtain all they might desire ; but both 
will gain all that in my humble opinion is proper to be given in the present 
condition of this country. It may be true that there will be loss and gain 
in this measure. But how is this loss and gain distributed ? Among our 
countrymen. What we lose, no foreign land gains ; and what we gain, will 
be no loss to any foreign power. It is among ourselves the distribution takes 
place. The distribution is founded on that great principle of compromise 
and concession which lies at the bottom of our institutions, which gave 
birth to the Constitution itself, and which has continued to regulate us in 
our onward march, and conducted the nation to glory and renown. 

It remains for me now to touch another topic. Objections have been 
made to all legislation at this session of Congress, resulting from the atti- 
tude of one of the States of this confederacy. I confess that I felt a veiy 
strong repugnance to any legislation at all on this subject at the commence- 
ment of the session, principally because I misconceived the purposes, as I 
found from subsequent observation, which that State has in view. Under 
the influence of more accurate information, I must say that the aspect of 
things since the commencement of the session has, in my opinion, greatly 
changed. When I came to take my seat on this floor, I had supposed 
that a member of this Union had taken an attitude of defiance and hostil- 
ity against the authority of the general government. I had imagined that 
she had arrogantly required that we should abandon at once a system 
which had long been the settled policy of this country. Supposing that 
she had manifested this feeling, and taken up this position, I had in con- 
sequence, felt a disposition to hurl defiance back again, and to impress 
upon her the necessity of the performance of her duties as a member of 
this Union. But since my arrival here, I find that South Carolina does 
not contemplate force, for it is denied and denounced by that State. She 
disclaims it ; and asserts that she is merely making an experiment. That 
experiment is this : by a course of State legislation, and by a change in 
her fundamental laws, she is endeavoring by her civil tribunals to prevent 
the general government from carrying the laws of the United States into 
operation within her limits. That she has professed to be her object. Her 
appeal is not to arms, but to another power ; not to the sword, but to the 
law. I must say, and I will say it with no intention of disparaging that 
State, or any other of the States, it is a feeling unworthy of her. As the 
purpose of South Carolina is not that of force, this at once disarms, divests 
legislation of one principal objection, which, it appears to me, existed against 
it at the commencement of this session. Her purposes are all of a civil 
nature. She thinks she can oust the United States from her limits ; and 
unquestionably she has taken good care to prepare her judges beforehand 
by swearing them to decide in her favor. If we submitted to her, we 
should thus stand but a poor chance of obtaining justice. She disclaims 
any intention of resorting to force unless we should find it indispensable 
to execute the laws of the Union by applying force to her. It seems to 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 547 

me the aspect of the attitude of South Carolina has changed ; or rather, 
the new liffht which I have obtained, enables me to see her in a different 
attitude ; and I have not truly understood her until she passed her laws, 
by which it was intended to carry her ordinance into effect. Now, I 
venture to predict that the State to which I have referred must ultimately 
fail in her attempt. I disclaim any intention of saying any thing to the 
disparagement of that State. Far from it. I think that she has been rash, 
intemperate, and greatly in error ; and, to use the language of one of her 
own writers, made up an issue unworthy of her. From one end to the 
other of this continent, by acclamation, as it were, nullification has been 
put down, and put down in a manner more effectually than by a thousand 
wars or a thousand armies — by the irresistible force, by the mighty influ- 
ence of public opinion. Not a voice beyond the single State of South 
Carolina has been heard in favor of the principle of nullification, which 
she has asserted by her own ordinance ; and I will say, that she must fail 
in her lawsuit. I will express two opinions ; the first of which is, that it 
is not possible for the ingenuity of man to devise a system of State legis- 
lation to defeat the execution of the laws of the United States, which can 
not be countervailed by federal legislation. 

A State might take it upon herself to throw obstructions in the way of 
the execution of the laws of the federal government ; but federal legisla- 
tion can follow at her heels quickly, and successfully counteract the course 
of State legislation. The framers of the Constitution foresaw this, and the 
Constitution has guarded against it. What has it said ? It is declared, 
in the clause enumerating the powers of this government, that Congress 
shall have all power to cany into effect all the powers granted by the 
Constitution, in any branch of the government under the sweeping clause ; 
for they have not specified contingences, because they could not see what 
was to happen ; but whatever powers were necessary, all, all are given to 
this government by the fundamental law, necessary to carry into effect 
those powers which are vested by that Constitution in the federal govern- 
ment. That is one reason. The other is, that it is not possible for any 
State, provided this government is administered with prudence and pro- 
priety, so to shape its laws as to throw upon the general government the 
responsibility of first resorting to the employment of force ; but, if force 
at all is employed, it must be by State legislation, and not federal legisla- 
tion ; and the responsibility of employing that force must rest with, and 
attach to, the State itself. 

T shall not go into the details of th'is bill. I merelythrow out these sen- 
timents for the purpose of show you, that South Carolina, having declared 
her purpose to be this, to make an experiment whether, by a course of 
legislation, in a conventional form, or a lemslative form of enactment, she 
can defeat the execution of certain laws of the United States, I for one, 
will express my opinion, that I believe it is utterly impracticable, whatever 
course of legislation she may choose to adopt, for her to succeed. I am 



548 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ready, for one, to give the tribunals and the executive of the country, 
whether that executive has or has not my confidence, the necessary meas- 
ures of power and authority to execute the laws of the Union. But I 
would not go a hair's breadth further than what was necessary for those 
purposes. Up to that point I would go, and cheerfully go ; for it is my 
sworn duty, as I regard it, to go to that point. 

Again ; taking this view of the subject, South Carolina is doing nothing 
more, except that she is doing it with more rashness, than some other 
States have done — that respectable State, Ohio, and, if I am not mistaken, 
the State of Virginia also. An opinion prevailed some years ago, that if 
you put the laws of a State into a penal form, you could oust federal juris- 
diction out of the limits of that State, because the State tribunals had an 
exclusive jurisdiction over penalties and crime, and it was inferred that no 
federal court could wrest the authority from them. According to that 
principle, the State of Ohio passed the laws taxing the branch of the 
United States bank, and high penalties were to be enforced against every 
person who should attempt to defeat her taxation. The question was tried. 
It happened to be my lot to be counsel at law to bring the 1 suit against 
the State, and to maintain the federal authority. The trial took place 
in the State of Ohio; and it is one of the many circumstances which 
redounds to the honor of that patriotic State, that she submitted to the 
federal force. I went to the office of the public treasury myself, to which 
was taken the money of the bank of the United States, it having remained 
there in sequestration until it was peaceably rendered, in obedience to the 
decision of the court, without any appeal to arms. In a building which I 
had to pass in order to reach the treasury, I saw the most brilliant display 
of arms and musketry that I ever saw in my life ; but not one was raised, 
or threatened to be raised, against the due execution of the laws of the 
United States, when they were then enforced. In Virginia (but I am not 
sure that I am correct in the history of it,) there was a case of this kind. 
Persons were liable to penalties for selling lottery tickets. It was contended 
that the State tribunals had an exclusive jurisdiction over the subject. 
The case was brought before the Supreme Court ; the parties were a Mr. 
Myers and somebody else, and it decided, as it must always decide, no 
matter what obstruction, no matter what the State law may be, the consti- 
tutional laws of the United States must follow and defeat it, in its attempt 
to arrest the federal arm in the exercise of its lawful authority. South 
Carolina has attempted, and, I repeat, it in a much more offensive way at- 
tempted, to defeat the execution of the laws of the United States. But it 
6eems, that, under all the circumstances of the case, she has, for the pres- 
ent, determined to stop here, in order that, by our legislation, we may 
prevent the necessity of her advancing any further. But there are other 
reasons for the expediency of legislation at this time. Although I came 
here impressed with a different opinion, my mind has now become recon- 
ciled. 



ON THE COMPEOMISE TARIFF. 549 

The memorable 1st of February is past. I confess I did feel an uncon- 
querable repugnance to legislation until that day should have passed, be- 
cause of the consequences that were to ensue. I hoped that the day would 
go over well. I feel, and I think that we must all confess, we breathe a 
freer air than when the restraint was upon us. But this is not the only 
consideration. South Carolina has practically postponed her ordinance, 
instead of letting it go into effect, till ihe 4th of March. Nobody who has 
noticed the course of events, can doubt that she will postpone it by still 
further legislation, if Congress should rise without any settlement of this 
question. I was going to say, my life on it, she will postpone it to a 
period subsequent to the 4th of March. It is in the natural course of 
events. South Carolina must perceive the embarrassments of her situation. 
She must be desirous — it is unnatural to suppose that she is not — to re- 
main in the Union. What ! a State whose heroes in its gallant ancestry 
fought so many glorious battles along with those of the other States of 
this Union — a State with which this confederacy is linked by bonds of 
such a powerful character ! I have sometimes fancied what would be her 
condition if she goes out of this Union ; if her five hundred thousand 
people should at once be thrown upon their own resources. She is out of 
the Union. What is the consequence? She is an independent power. 
What then does she do ? She must have armies and fleets, and an ex- 
pensive government ; have foreign missions ; she must raise taxes ; enact 
this very tariff which has driven her out of the Union, in order to enable 
her to raise money, and to sustain the attitude of an independent power. 
If she should have no force, no navy to protect her, she would be exposed 
to piratical incursions. Their neighbor, St. Domingo, might pour down a 
horde of pirates on her borders, and desolate her plantations. She must 
have her embassies ; therefore must she have a revenue. And let me tell 
you, there is another consequence, an inevitable one : she has a certain 
description of persons recognized as property south of the Potomac, and 
west of the Mississippi, which would be no longer recognized as such, ex- 
cept within their own limits. This species of property would sink to one 
half of its present value, for it is Louisiana and the south-western States 
which are her great market. 

But I will not dwell on this topic any longer. I say it is utterly impos- 
sible that South Carolina ever desired, for a moment, to become a separate 
and independent State. If the existence of the ordinance, while an act of 
Congress is pending, is to be considered as a motive for not passing that 
law, why, this would be found to be a sufficient reason for preventing 
the passage of any laws. South Carolina, by keeping the shadow of an 
ordinance ever before us, as she has it in her power to postpone it from 
time to time, would defeat our legislation for ever. I would repeat, that 
under all the circumstances of the case, the condition of South Carolina is 
only one of the elements of a combination, the whole of which, together, 
constitutes a motive of action which renders it expedient to resort, during 



550 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the present session of Congress, to some measure in order to quiet and 
tranquilize the country. 

If there be any who want civil war, who want to see the blood of any 
portion of our countrymen spilt, I am not one of them I wish to see war 
of no kind ; but, above all, I do not desire to see civil war. When war 
begins, whether civil or foreign, no human sight is competent to foresee 
when, or how, or where it is to terminate. But when a civil war shall be 
lighted up in the bosom of our own happy land, and armies are marching, 
and commanders are winning their victories, and fleets are in motion on 
our coast, tell me, if you can, tell me, if any human being can tell its dura- 
tion. God alone knows where such a war would end. In what a state 
will our institutions be left ? In what a state our liberties ? I want no 
war ; above all, no war at home. 

Sir, I repeat, that I think South Carolina has been rash, intemperate, and 
greatly in the wrong ; but I do not want to disgrace her, nor any other 
member of this Union. No : I do not desire to see the luster of one sino-le 
star dimmed of that glorious confederacy which constitutes our political 
sun ; still less do I wish to see it blotted out, and its light obliterated for- 
ever. Has not the State of South Carolina been one of the members of 
this Union in " days that tried men's souls ?" Have not her ancestors 
fought alongside our ancestors ? If we had to go into a civil war with such 
a State, how would it terminate ? "Whenever it should have terminated, 
what would be her condition ? If she should ever return to the Union, 
what would be the condition of her feelings and affections ? what the state 
of the heart of her people ? She has been with us before, when her an- 
cestors mingled in the throng of battle, and as I hope our posterity will 
mingle with hers, for ages and centuries to come, in the united defense of 
liberty, and for the honor and glory of the Union, I do not wish to see 
her degraded or defaced as a member of this confederacy. 

In conclusion, allow me to intreat and implore each individual member 
of this body to bring into the consideration of this measure which I have 
had the honor of proposing, the same love of country which, if I know 
myself, has actuated me, and the same desire of restoring harmony to 
the Union, which has prompted this effort. If we can forget for a moment 
— but that would be asking too much of human nature — if we could suf- 
fer, for one moment, party feelings and party causes — and, as I stand here 
before my God, I declare I have looked beyond those considerations, and 
regarded only the vast interests of this united people — I should hope that 
under such feelings, and with such dispositions, we may advantageously 
proceed to the consideration of this bill, and heal, before they are yet 
bleeding, the wounds of our distracted country. 



THE COMPROMISE TARIFF (Continued). 

IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 25, 1833. 

[Thirteen days liad elapsed since the introduction of the 
Compromise Bill by Mr. Clay, and the measure had been largely 
discussed, and with great ability. The following speech is chiefly 
occupied in answers to objections to the measure. Some senat- 
ors from the South, led by Mr. Forsyth of Georgia, opposed it, 
and Mr. Webster led the opposition from the North. Mr. Web- 
ster's chief objection was, that the bill surrendered the protect- 
ive policy, of which he had become the advocate, though he 
opposed the tariff of 1824. He had very properly changed with 
the change of interest in his constituents. If Mr. Clay's Com- 
promise Bill had had more time for consideration, it would prob- 
ably have been less opposed ; but it was sprung on the Senate 
so suddenly, and the necessity of a speedy decision was such — 
only fifteen days from the time of its introduction — that the 
. time was short to digest so important a measure. To some 
minds it was then a puzzle, and long continued so, as to its effect 
on the protective policy. Mr. Clay, however, was right, that it 
did not surrender that policy, and that it retained all the pro- 
tection possible as a compromise adapted to the exigency. As 
he predicted, the manufacturers were reconciled to it, especially 
as it was to be a reliable measure for a specific term of years, 
under which they could adapt themselves to it. The existing 
measure of protection was not seriously impaired, and the reduc- 
tion of protective duties was so gradual that they hoped to be 
able to sustain themselves under it. They knew that they were 
in danger of losing all, and to be saved in such a crisis was a 
most welcome boon. So sensible were the manufacturers of their 
obligations to Mr. Clay for this measure, that they made a con- 
tinuous ovation to him on his subsequent tour through the 
manufacturing States. And yet it was maintained by a multi- 
tude of theoretical cynics, that this tariff gave up protection. 
Practical men, however, took it as it was, and, as protectionists, 



552 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

were satisfied with it. The tariff of 1842 proved that Mr. Clay 
was right in his anticipations, and that there was nothing in that 
of 18S3 that could operate as a har to such a measure. A pro- 
tracted pacification was secured, a civil war prevented, and all 
power was wrested from the hands of General Jackson and his 
party to hreak down the protective policy. If this had not been 
done suddenly, on the instant, it never could have been done ; 
and the country was indebted to Mr. Clay for this great achieve- 
ment. The Compromise Tariff of 1833 was conceived quick, 
on the exigency ; it was quickly acted upon, and quickly passed. 
Strange to say, Mr. Calhoun and his party went for it, in prefer- 
ence to Verplanck's bill. Mr. Calhoun was willing to be rescued 
from the hands of General Jackson by Mr. Clay and his friends, 
notwithstanding that Verplanck's bill was more in accordance 
with the wishes of the South. The passage of the tariff of 
1833 was a sort of coup de main operation, and the only wonder 
is, that it was so thoroughly charged with wisdom, and foresight, 
and circumspection, as afterward to sustain the most severe 
scrutiny without being impeached. The vote of the House for 
the tariff was one hundred and twenty to eighty-four, and that 
of the Senate twenty-nine to sixteen. 

The following vindication of the measure will well repay an 
attentive perusal.] 

Being anxious, Mr. President, that this bill should pass, and pass this 
day, I will abridge as much as I can the observations I am called upon to 
make. 1 have long, with pleasure and pride, co-operated in the public 
service with the senator from Massachusetts ; and I have found him faith- 
ful, enlightened, and patriotic. I have not a particle of doubt as to the 
pure and elevated motives which actuate him. Under these circumstances, 
it gives me deep and lasting regret to find myself compelled to differ from 
him as to a measure involving vital interests, and perhaps the safety of the 
Union. On the other hand, I derive great consolation from finding myself, 
on this occasion, in the midst of friends with whom I have long acted, in 
peace and in war, and especially with the honorable senator from Maine, 
(Mr. Holmes), with whom I had the happiness to unite in a memorable in- 
stance. It was in this very chamber, that senator presiding in the com- 
mittee of the Senate, and I in committee of twenty-four of the House of 
Representatives, on a Sabbath day, that the terms were adjusted, by which 
the compromise of the Missouri question was effected. Then the dark 
clouds that hung over our beloved country were dispersed ; and now the 
thunders from others not less threatening, and which have been longer ac- 
cumulating, will, I hope, roll over us harmless and without injury. 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 55 

The senator from Massachusetts objects to the bill under consideration, 
on various grounds. He argues that it imposes unjustifiable restraints on 
the power of future legislation ; that it abandons the protective policy, and 
that the details of the bill are practically defective. He does not object to 
the gradual, but very considerable reduction of duties which is made prior 
to 1842. To that he could not object, because it is a species of prospective 
provision, as he admits, in conformity with numerous precedents on our 
statute-book. He does not object so much to the state of the proposed law 
prior to 1842, during a period of nine years; but throwing himself for- 
ward to the termination of that period, he contends that Cougress will then 
find itself under inconvenient shackles, imposed by our indiscretion. In 
the first place, I would remark, that the bill contains no obligatory 
pledges ; it could make none ; none are attempted. The power over the 
subject is in the Constitution — put thereby those who formed it, and liable 
to be taken out only by an amendment of the instrument. The next Con- 
gress, and every succeeding Congress, will undoubtedly have the power to 
repeal the law whenever they may think proper. Whether they will ex- 
ercise it or not will depend upon a sound discretion, applied to the state 
of the whole country, and estimating fairly the consequences of the repeal, 
both upon the general harmony and the common interests. Then the bill 
is founded in a spirit of compromise. Now in all compromises there must 
be mutual concessions. The friends of free trade insist, that duties should 
be laid in reference to revenue alone. The friends of American industry 
say, that another, if not paramount object in laying them, should be, to 
diminish the consumption of foreign, and increase that of domestic pro- 
ducts. On this point the parties divide, and between these two opposite 
opinions a reconciliation is to be effected, if it can be accomplished. The 
bill assumes as a basis adequate protection for nine years, and less beyond 
that term. The friends of protection say to their opponents, We are willing 
to take a lease of nine years, with the long chapter of accidents beyond 
that period, including the chance of war, the restoration of concord, and 
along with it, a conviction common to all, of the utility of protection ; and 
in consideration of it, if, in 1842, none of these contingences shall have 
been realized, we are willing to submit as long as Congress may think 
proper, to a maximum rate of twenty per centum, with the power of dis- 
crimination below it, cash duties, home valuations, and a liberal list of free 
articles, for the benefit of the manufacturing interest. To these conditions 
the opponents of protection are ready to accede. The measure is what it 
professes to be, a compromise ; but it imposes and could impose no restric- 
tion upon the will or power of a future Congress. Doubtless great respect 
will be paid, as it ought to be paid, to the serious condition of the country 
that has prompted the passage of this bill: Any future Congress that 
might disturb this adjustment would act under a high responsibility, but it 
would be entirely within its competency to repeal, if it thought proper, the 
whole bill. It is far from the object of those who support this bill, to 



554 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

abandon or surrender the policy of protecting American industry. Its 
protection or encouragement may be accomplished in various ways — first, 
by bounties, as far as they are within the constitutional power of Congress 
to offer them ; second, by prohibitions, totally excluding the foreign rival 
article ; third, by high duties, without regard to the aggregate amount of 
revenue which they produce ; fourth, by discriminating duties so adjusted 
as to limit the revenue to the economical wants of government; and, fifth, 
by the admission of the raw material, and articles essential to manufac- 
tures free of duty ; to which may be added, cash duties, home valuations, 
and the regulation of auctions. A perfect system of protection would com- 
prehend most if not all these modes of affording it. There might be at 
this time a prohibition of certain articles (ardent spirits and coarse cottons, 
for example), to public advantage. If there were not inveterate prejudices 
and conflicting opinions prevailing (and what statesman can totally disre- 
gard impediments ?) such a compound system might be established. 

Now, Mr. President, before the assertion is made, that the bill sur- 
renders the protective policy, gentlemen should understand perfectly what 
it does not as well as what it does propose. It impairs no power of Con- 
gress over the whole subject; it contains no promise or pledge whatever, 
express or implied, as to bounties, prohibitions, or auctions ; it does not 
touch the power of Congress in regard to them, and Congress is perfectly 
free to exercise that power at any time ; it expressly recognizes discrimi- 
nating duties within a prescribed limit; it provides for cash duties and 
home valuations ; and it secures a free list, embracing numerous articles, 
some of high importance to the manufacturing arts. Of all the modes of 
protection which I have enumerated, it affects only the third ; that is to 
say, the imposition of high duties, producing a revenue beyond the wants 
of government. The senator from Massachusetts contends that the policy 
of protection was settled in 1816, and that it has ever since been maintain- 
ed. Sir, it was settled long before 1816. It is coeval with the present 
Constitution, and it will continue, under some of its various aspects, during 
the existence of the government. No nation can exist, no nation perhaps 
ever existed, without protection in some form, and, to some extent, being 
applied to its own industry. The direct and necessary consequence of 
abandoning the protection of its own industry, would be to subject it to 
the restrictions and prohibitions of foreign powers ; and no nation, for any 
length of time, can endure an alien legislation in which it has no will. 
The discontents which prevail, and the safety of the republic, may require 
the modification of a specific mode of protection, but it must be preserved 
in some other more acceptable shape. 

All that was settled in 1816, in 1824, and in 1828, was, that protection 
should be afforded by high duties, without regard to the amount of the 
revenue which they might yield. During that whole period, we had a 
public debt which absorbed all the surpluses beyond the ordinary wants 
of government. Between 1816 and 1824, the revenue was liable to the 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 555 

greatest fluctuations, vibrating: between the extremes of about nineteen and 
thirty-six millions of dollars. If there were more revenue, more debt was 
paid ; if less, a smaller amount was reimbursed. Such was sometimes tho 
deficiency of the revenue, that it became necessary to the ordinary ex- 
penses of government, to trench upon the ten millions annually set apart 
as a sinking-fund to extinguish the public debt. If the public debt re- 
mained undischarged, or we had any other practical mode of appropriating 
the surplus revenue, the form of protection, by high duties, might be con- 
tinued without public detriment. It is the payment of the public debt, 
then, and the arrest of internal improvements by the exercise of the veto, 
that unsettles that specific form of protection. Nobody supposes, or pro- 
poses, that we should continue to levy, by means of high duties, a large 
annual surplus, of which no practical use can be made, for the sake of the 
incidental protection which they afford. The Secretary of the Treasury 
estimates that surplus on the existing scale of duties, and with the other 
sources of revenue, at six millions annually. An annual accumulation at 
that rate would, in a few years, bring into the treasury the whole currency 
of the country, to lie there inactive and dormant. 

This view of the condition of the country has impressed every public 
man with the necessity of some modification of the principles of protection, 
so far as it depends upon high duties. The senator from Massachusetts 
feels it ; and hence, in the resolutions which he submitted, he proposes to 
reduce the duties, so as to limit the amount of the revenue to the wants 
of the government. With him revenue is the principal, protection the 
subordinate, object. If protection can not be enjoyed after such a reduction 
of duties as he thinks ought to be made, it is not to be extended. He says, 
specific duties and the power of discrimination are preserved by his reso- 
lutions. So they may be under the operation of the bill. The only differ- 
ence between the two schemes is, that the bill, in the maximum which it 
provides, suggests a certain limit, while his resolutions lay down none. 
Below that maximum, the principle of discrimination and specific duties 
may be applied. The senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dallas), who, equally 
with the senator from Massachusetts, is opposed to this bill, would have 
agreed to the bill if it had fixed thirty instead of twenty per centum ; and 
he would have dispensed with home valuation, and come down to the rev- 
enue standard in five or six years. Now, Mr. President, I prefer, and I 
think the manufacturing interest will prefer, nine years of adequate pro- 
tection, home valuations, and twenty per centum, to the plan of the senator 
from Pennsylvania. 

Mr. President, I want to be perfectly understood as to the motives which 
have prompted me to offer this measure. I repeat what I said on the in- 
troduction of it, that they are, first, to preserve the manufacturing interest, 
and, secondly, to quiet the country. I believe the American system to be 
in the greatest danger ; and I believe it can be placed on a better and safer 
foundation at this session than at the next. I heard with surprise my friend 



556 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

from Massachusetts say that nothing had occurred within the last six months 
to increase its hazard. I entreat him to review that opinion. Is it correct? 
Is the issue of numerous elections, including that of the highest officer of 
the government, nothing? Is the explicit recommendation of that officer, 
in his message, at the opening of the session, sustained, as he is, by a recent 
triumphant election, nothing? Is his declaration in his proclamation, that 
the burdens of the South ought to be relieved, nothing? Is the intro- 
duction of a bill into the House of Representatives during this session, 
sanctioned by the head of the treasury and the administration, prostrating 
the greater part of the manufactures of the country, nothing ? Are the 
increasing discontents, nothing? Is the tendency of recent events to unite 
the whole South, nothing ? What have we not witnessed in this chamber? 
Friends of the administration, bursting all the ties which seemed indissolu- 
bly to unite them to its chief, and, with few exceptions, south of the Po- 
tomac, opposing, and vehemently opposing, a favorite measure of that 
administration, which three short mouths ago they contributed to estab- 
lish ! Let us not deceive ourselves. Now is the time to adjust the question 
in a manner satisfactory to both parties. Put it off until the next session, 
and the alternative may, and probably then would, be a speedy and ruinous 
reduction of the tariff, or a civil war with the entire South. 

It is well known that the majority of the dominant party is adverse to 
the tariff. There are many honorable exceptions, the senator from New 
Jersey (Mr. Dickerson), among them. But for the exertions of the other 
party, the tariff would have been long since sacrificed. Now let us look at 
the composition of the two branches of Congress at the next session. In 
this body we lose three friends of the protective policy, without being sure 
of ginning one. Here, judging from present appearances, we shall at the 
next session be in the minority. In the House it is notorious, that there is 
a considerable accession to the number of the dominant party. How then, 
I ask, is the system to be sustained against numbers, against the whole 
weight of the administration, against the united South, and against the in- 
creased pending danger of civil war? There is, indeed, one contingency 
that might save it, but that is too uncertain to rely upon. A certain class 
of northern politicians, professing friendship to the tariff, have been charged 
with being secretly inimical to it for political purposes. They may change 
their ground, and come out open and undisguised supporters of the system. 
They may even find in the measure which I have brought forward a motive 
for their conversion. Sir, I shall rejoice in it, from whatever cause it may 
proceed. And, if they can give greater strength and durability to the sys- 
tem, and at the same time quiet the discontents of its opponents, I shall 
rejoice still more. They shall not find me disposed to abandon it, because 
it has drawn succor from an unexpected quarter. No, Mr. President, it is 
not destruction, but preservation of the system at wdiich we aim. If dan- 
gers now assail it, we have not created them. I have sustained it upon the 
strongest and clearest convictions of its expediency. They are entirely 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 557 

unaltered. Had others, who avow attachment to it, supported it with equal 
zeal and straightforwardness, it would be now free from embarrassment ; 
but with them it has been a secondary interest. I utter no complaints; I 
make no reproaches. I wish only to defend myself now, as heretofore, 
against unjust assaults. I have been represented as the father of this 
6ystem, and I am charged with an unnatural abandonment of my own 
offspring. I have never arrogated to myself any such intimate relation to 
it. I have, indeed, cherished it with paternal fondness, and my affection is 
undiminished, but in what condition do I find this child ? It is in the 
hands of the Philistines, who would strangle it. I fly to its rescue, to 
snatch it from their custody, and to place it on a bed of security and repose 
for nine years, where it may grow and strengthen, and become acceptable 
to the whole people. I behold a torch about being applied to a favorite 
edifice, and I would save it if possible before it is wrapped in flames, or at 
least preserve the precious furniture which it contains. I wish to see the 
tariff separated from the politics of the country, that business men may go 
to work in security, with some prospect of stability in our laws, and with- 
out every thing being staked on the issue of elections, as it were on the 
hazards of the die. 

And the other leading object which has prompted the introduction of 
this measure, the tranquilizing of the country, is no less important. All 
wise human legislation must consult in some degree the passions, and prej- 
udices, and feelings, as well as the interests of the people. It would be 
vain and foolish to proceed at all times, and under all circumstances, upon 
the notion of absolute certainty in any system, or infallibility in any dogma, 
and to push these out without regard to any consequences. With us, who 
entertain the opinion that Congress is constitutionally invested with power 
to protect domestic industry, it is a question of mere expediency as to the 
form, the degree, and the time that the protection shall be afforded. In 
weio-hino- all the considerations which should control and regulate the ex- 
ercise of that power, we ought not to overlook what is due to those who 
honestly entertain opposite opinious to large masses of the community, and 
to deep, long-cherished, and growing prejudices. Perceiving, ourselves, no 
constitutional impediment, we have less difficulty in accommodating our- 
6elves to the sense of the people of the United States upon this in- 
teresting subject. I do believe that a majority of them is in favor of 
this policy ; but I am induced to believe this almost against evidence. 
Two States in New England, which have been in favor of the system, have 
recently come out against it. Other States of the North and East have 
shown a remarkable indifference to its preservation. If, indeed, they have 
wished to preserve it, they have nevertheless placed the powers of govern- 
ment in hands which ordinary information must have assured them were 
rather a hazardous depository. With us in the West, although we are not 
without seme direct and considerable indirect interest in the system, we 
have supported it more upon national than sectional grounds. 



558 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Meantime the opposition of a large and respectable section of the 
Union, stimulated by political success, has increased, and is increasing. 
Discontents are multiplying and assuming new and dangerous aspects. 
They have been cherished by the course and hopes inspired during this 
administration, which, at the very moment that it threatens and recom- 
mends the use of the powers of the Union, proclaims aloud the injustice 
of the system which it would enforce. These discontents are not limited 
to those who maintain the extravagant theory of nullification ; they are 
not confined to one State ; they are coextensive with the entire South, and 
exteud even to northern States. It has been intimated by the senator 
from Massachusetts, that, if we legislate at this session on the tariff, we 
would seem to legislate under the influence of a panic. I believe, Mr. 
President, I am not more sensible to danger of any kiud, than my fellow- 
men are generally. It perhaps requires as much moral courage to legis- 
late under the imputation of a panic, as to refrain from it lest such an im? 
putation should be made. But he who regards the present question as 
being limited to South Carolina alone, takes a view of it much too con- 
tracted. There is a sympathy of feeling and interest throughout the wholo 
South. Other southern States may differ from that as to the remedy to be 
now used, but all agree (great as in my humble judgment is their error) 
in the substantial justice of the cause. Can there be a doubt that those 
who think in common will sooner or later act in concert ? Events are 
on the wing, and hastening this co-operation. Since the commencement 
of this session, the most powerful southern member of the Union has taken 
a measure which can not fail to lead to important consequences. She has 
deputed one of her most distinguished citizens to request a suspension of 
measures of resistance. No attentive observer can doubt that the suspen- 
sion will be made. Well, sir, suppose it takes place, and Congress should 
fail at the next session to afford the redress which will be solicited, what 
course would every principle of honor, and every consideration of the in- 
terests of Virginia, as she understands them, exact from her ? Would she 
not make common cause with South Carolina ? and if she did, would not 
the entire South eventually become parties to tbe contest ? The rest of 
the Union might put down the South, and reduce it to submission ; but, to 
say nothing of the uncertainty and hazards of all war, is that a desirable 
state of things ? Ought it not to be avoided if it can be honorably pre- 
vented ? I am not one of those who think that we must rely exclusively 
upon moral power, and never resort to physical force. I know too well the 
frailties and follies of man, in his collective as well as individual character, 
to reject in all possible cases, the employment of force ; but I do think 
that when resorted to, especially among the members of a confederacy, 
it should manifestly appear to be the only remaining appeal. 

But suppose the present Congress terminates without any adjustment of 
the tariff, let us see in what condition its friends will find themselves at the 
next session. South Carolina will have postponed the execution of the 



ON THE COMPEOMISE TARIFF. 559 

law passed to carry iuto effect her ordinance, until the end of that session. 
All will be quiet in the South for the present. The president, in his open- 
ing message, will urge that justice, as he terras it, be done to the South ; 
and that the burdens imposed upon it by the tariff, be removed. The 
whole weight of the administration, the united South, and majorities of the 
dominant party, in both branches of Congress, will be found in active co- 
operation. Will the gentleman from Massachusetts tell me how we are to 
save the tariff against this united and irresistible force ? They will accuse 
us of indifference to the preservation of the Union, and of being willing to 
expose the country to the dangers of civil war. The fact of South Caro- 
lina's postponing of her ordinance, at the instance of Virginia, and once 
more appealing to the justice of Congress, will be pressed with great em- 
phasis and effect. It does appear to me impossible that we can prevent a 
most injurious modification of the tariff, at the next session, and that this 
is the favorable moment for an equitable arrangement of it. I have been 
subjected to animadversion, for the admission of the fact, that, at the next 
session, our opponents will be stronger, and the friends of the American 
system weaker than they are in this Congress. But, is it not so? And is 
it not the duty of every man, who aspires to be a statesman, to look at na- 
ked facts as they really are ? Must he suppress them ? Ought he, like 
children, to throw the counterpane over his eyes, and persuade himself that 
he is secure from danger ? Are not our opponents as well informed as we 
are, about their own strength ? 

If we adjourn, without any permanent settlement of the tariff, in what 
painful suspense and terrible uncertainty shall we not leave the manufac- 
turers and business men of the country '? All eyes will be turned, with 
trembling and fear, to the next session. Operations will be circumscribed, 
and new enterprises checked ; or, if otherwise, ruin and bankruptcy may 
be the consequence. I believe, sir, this measure, which offers a reasonable 
guaranty for permanence and stability, will be hailed by practical men with 
pleasure. The political manufacturers may be against 'it, but it will com- 
mand the approbation of a large majority of the business manufacturers of 
the country. But the objections of the honorable senator from Massachu- 
setts are principally directed to the period beyond 1842. During the in- 
termediate time, there is every reason to hope and believe that the bill se- 
cures adequate protection. All my information assures me of this ; and 
it is demonstrated by the fact, that, if the measure of protection, se- 
cured prior to the 31st of December, 1841, were permanent; or if the bill 
were even silent beyond that period, it would command the cordial and 
unanimous concurrence of the friends of the policy. What then divides, 
what alarms us ? It is what may possibly be the state of things in the 
year one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, or subsequently ! Now, sir, 
even if that should be as bad as the most vivid imagination, or the most 
eloquent tongue could depict it, if we have intermediate safety and security, 
it does not seem to me wise to rush upon certain and present evils, because 



560 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of those which, admitting their possibility, are very remote and contingent 
What ! shall we not extinguish the flame which is bursting through the 
roof that covers us, because, at some future and distant day, we may be 
again threatened with conflagration ? 

I do not admit that this bill abandons, or fails, by its provisions, to se- 
cure reasonable protection beyond 1842. I can not know, I pretend not 
to know, what will then be the actual condition of this country, and of the 
manufacturing arts, and their relative condition to the rest of the world. 
I would as soon confide in the forecast of the honorable senator from Mas- 
sachusetts as in that of any other mau in this Senate, or in this country; 
but neither he nor any one else can tell what that condition will then be. 
The degree of protection which will be required for domestic industy be- 
yond 1842, depends upon the reduction of wages, the accumulation of 
capital, the improvement in skill, the protection of machinery, and the 
cheapening of the price, at home, of essential articles, such as fuel, iron, 
and so forth. I do not think that the honorable senator can throw him- 
self forward to 1842, and tell us what, in all these particulars, will be the 
state of this country, and its relative state to other countries. We know 
that, in all human probability, our numbers will be increased by an 
addition of one third, at least, to their present amonnt, and that may 
materially reduce wages. We have reason to believe that our capital will 
be augmented, our skill improved ; and we know that great progress has 
been made, and is making, in machinery. There is a constant tendency to 
decrease in the price of iron and coal. The opening of new mines and 
new channels of communication must continue to lower it. The success- 
ful introduction of the process of cooking will have great effect. The price 
of these articles, one of the most opulent and intelligent manufacturing 
houses in this country assures me, is a principal cause of the present neces- 
sity of protection to the cotton interest ; and that house is strongly incliued 
to think that twenty per centum, with the other advantages secured in 
this bill, may do beyond 1842. Then, sir, what effect may not convulsions 
and revolutions in Europe, if any should arise, produce ? I am far from 
desiring them that our country may profit by their occurrence. Her great- 
ness and glory rest, I hope, upon a more solid and more generous basis. 
But we can not shut our eyes to the fact, that our greatest manufacturing, 
as well as commercial competitor, is undergoing a momentous political ex- 
periment, the issue of which is far from being absolutely certain. Who 
can raise the vail of the succeeding nine years, and show what, at their 
termination, will be the degree of competition which Great Britain can ex- 
ercise toward us in the manufacturing arts ? 

Suppose, in the progress of gradual descent toward the revenue standard 
for which this bill provides, it should some years hence become evident 
that further protection, beyond 1842, than that which it contemplates, may 
be necessary, can it be doubted that, in some form or other, it will be ap- 
plied ? Our misfortune has been, and yet is, that the public mind has been 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 561 

constantly kept in a state of feverish excitement, in respect to this system 
of policy. Conventions, elections, Congress, the public press, have been, 
for years all acting - upon tbe tariff, and the tariff acting upon them alL 
Prejudices have been excited, passions kindled, and mutual irritations car- 
ried to the highest pitch of exasperation, insomuch that good feelings have 
been almost extinguished, and the voice of reason and experience silenced, 
among the members of the confederacy. Let us separate the tariff from the 
agitating politics of the country, place it upon a stable and firm founda- 
tion, and allow our enterprising countrymen to demonstrate to the whole 
Union, by their skillful and successful labors, the inappreciable value of 
the arts. If they can have what they have never yet enjoyed, some years 
of repose and tranquillity, they will make, silently, more converts to the 
policy, than would be made during a long period of anxious struggle and 
boisterous contention. Above all, I count upon the good effects resulting 
from a restoration to the harmony of this divided people, upon their good 
sense and their love of justice. Who can doubt, that when passions have 
subsided, and reason has resumed her empire, that there will be a disposi- 
tion throughout the whole Union, to render ample justice to all its parts ? 
Who will believe that any section of this great confederacy would look 
with indifference to the prostration of the interests of another section, by 
distant and selfish foreign nations, regardless alike of the welfare of us all ? 
No, sir ; I have no fears beyond 1842. The people of the United States 
are brethren, made to love and respect each other. Momentary causes 
may seem to alienate them, but, like family differences, they will terminate 
in a closer and more affectionate union than ever. And how much more 
estimable will be a system of protection, based on common conviction and 
common consent, and planted in the bosoms of all, than one wrenched by 
power from reluctant and protesting weakness ? 

That such a system will be adopted, if it should be necessary for the 
period of time subsequent to 1842, I will not doubt. But in the scheme 
which I originally proposed, I did not rely exclusively, great as my reliance 
is, upon the operation of fraternal feelings, the return of reason, and a 
sense of justice. The scheme contained an appeal to the interests of the 
South. According to it, unmanufactured cotton was to be a free article 
after 1842. Gentlemen from that quarter have again and again asserted 
that they were indifferent to the duty of three cents per pound on cotton, 
and that they feared no foreign competition. I have thought otherwise ; 
but I was willing, by way of experiment, to take them at their word ; not 
that I was opposed to the protection of cotton, but believing that a few 
cargoes of foreign cotton introduced into our northern ports, free of duty, 
would hasten our southern friends to come here and ask that protection for 
their great staple, which is wanted in other sections for their interests. 
That feature in the scheme was stricken out in the select committee, but 
not by the consent of my friend from Delaware (Mr. Clayton), or myself. 
Still, after 1842, the South may want protection for sugar, for tobacco, for 

3a 



562 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Virginia, coal, perhaps for cotton and other articles, while other quarters 
may need it for wool, woolens, iron, and cotton fabrics : and these mutual 
wants, if they should exist, will lead, I hope, to some amicable adjustment 
of a tariff for that distant period, satisfactory to all. The theory of pro- 
tection supposes, too, that, after a certain time, the protected arts will have 
acquired such strength and perfection as will enable them subsequently, 
unaided, to stand up against foreign competition. If, as" I have no doubt, 
this should prove to be correct, it will, on the arrival of 1842, encourage 
all parts of the Union to consent to the continuance of longer protection 
to the few articles which may then require it. 

The bill before us strongly recommends itself by its equity and impar- 
tiality. It favors no one interest, and no one State, hy an unjust sacrifice 
of others. It deals equally by all. Its basis is the act of July last. That 
act was passed, after careful and thorough investigation, and long delibera- 
tion, continued through several months. Although it may not have been 
perfect in its adjustment of the proper measure of protection to each article 
which was supposed to merit it, it is not likely, that, even with the same 
length of time before us, we could make one more perfect. Assuming the 
justness of that act, the bill preserves the respective propositions for which 
the act provides, and subjects them all to the same equal but moderate re- 
duction, spread over the long space of nine years. The senator from 
Massachusetts contends that a great part of the value of all protec- 
tion is given up by dispensing with specific duties and the principle of 
discrimination. But much the most valuable articles of our domestic 
manufactures (cottons and woolens, for example), have never enjoyed the 
advantage of specific duties. They have always been liable to ad 
valorem duties, with a very limited application of the minimum principle. 
The bill does not, however, even after 1842, surrender either mode of layiDg 
duties. Discriminations are expressly recognized below the maximum, and 
specific duties may also be imposed, provided they do not exceed it. 

The honorable senator also contends that the bill is imperfect, and that 
the execution of it will be impracticable. He asks, how is the excess above 
twenty per centum to be ascertained on coarse and printed cottons liable to 
minimums of thirty and thirty-five cents, and subject to a duty of twenty- 
five per centum, ad valorem ; and how it is to be estimated in the case 
of specific duties ? Sir, it is very probable that the bill is not perfect, but I 
do not believe that there is any thing impracticable in its execution. Much 
will, however, depend upon the head of the treasury department. In the in- 
stance of the cotton minimums, the statute having, by way of exception to 
the general ad valorem rule, declared, in certain cases, how the value shall 
be estimated, that statutory value ought to govern ; and consequently, the 
twenty per centum should be exclusively deducted from the twenty-five per 
centum, being the rate of duties to which cottons generally are liable ; and 
the biennial tenths should be subtracted from the excess of five per centum. 
"With regard to specific duties, it will, perhaps, be competent to the Secretary 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 563 

of the Treasury in the execution of the law, for the sake of certainty, to adopt 
some average value, founded upon importations of a previous year. But if 
the value of each cargo, and every part of it, is to be ascertained, it would 
be no more than what now is the operation in the case of woolens, silks, 
cottons above thirty and thirty-five cents, and a variety of other articles ; 
and consequently there would be no more impracticability in the law. 

To all defects, however, real or imaginary, which it may be supposed 
will arise in the execution of the principle of the bill, I oppose one conclus- 
ive, and, I hope, satisfactory answer. Congress will be in session one whole 
month before the commencement of the law ; and if, in the mean time, 
omissions calling for further legislation shall be discovered, there will be 
more time then than we have now to supply them. Let us, on this occa- 
sion of compromise, pursue the example of our fathers, who, under the in- 
fluence of the same spirit, in the adoption of the Constitution of the United 
States, determined to ratify it, and go for amendments afterward. 

To the argument of the senator from Massachusetts, that this interest, 
and that, and the other, can not be sustained under the protection, beyond 
1842, I repeat the answer, that no one can now tell what may then be 
necessary. That period will provide for itself. But I was surprised to hear 
my friend singling out iron as an article that would be most injuriously 
affected by the operation of this bill. If I am not greatly mistaken in 
my recollection, he opposed and voted against the act of 1824, because of 
the high duty imposed on iron. But for that duty (and perhaps the duty 
on hemp), which he then considered threw an unreasonable burden upon 
the navigation of the country, he would have supported that act. Of all 
the articles to which protecting duties are applied, iron, and the manufac- 
tures of iron, enjoy the highest protection. During the term of nine years, 
the deductions from the duty are not such as seriously to impair those great 
interests, unless all my information deceives me ; and beyond that period, the 
remedy has been already indicated. Let me suppose that the anticipations 
which I form, upon the restoration of concord and confidence, shall be all 
falsified ; that neither the sense of fraternal affection, nor common justice, 
nor even common interests, will lead to an amicable adjustment of the 
tariff beyond 1842. Let me suppose the period has arrived, and that the 
provisions of the bill shall be interpreted as an obligatory pledge upon the 
Congress of that day ; and let me suppose, also, that a greater amount of 
protection than the bill provides, is absolutely necessary to some interests ; 
what is to be done ? Regarded as a pledge, it does not bind Congress for- 
ever to adhere to the specific rate of duty contained in the bill. The most, 
in that view, that it exacts, is, to make a fair experiment. If, after such 
experiment, it should be demonstrated, that, under such an arrangement of 
the tariff, the interests of large portions of the Union would be sacrificed, 
and they exposed to ruin, Congress will be competent to apply some remedy 
that will be effectual ; and I hope and believe that, in such a contingency, 



564 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

some will be devised that may preserve the harmony and perpetuate 
the blessings of the Union. 

It has been alleged, that there will be an augmentation, instead of a 
diminution of revenue, under the operation of this bill. I feel quite con- 
fident of the reverse ; but it is sufficient to say, that both contingences are 
carefully provided for in the bill, without affecting the protected articles. 

The gentleman from Massachusetts dislikes the measure, because it com- 
mands the concurrence of those who have been hitherto opposed, in regard 
to the tariff; and is approved by the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Calhoun), as well as by myself. Why, sir, the gentleman has told us that 
he is not opposed to any compromise. Will he be pleased to say how any 
compromise can be effected without a concurrence between those who 
had been previously divided, and taking some medium between the two 
extremes ? The wider the division may have been, so much the better for 
the compromise, which ought to be judged of by its nature and by its 
terms, and not solely by those who happen to vote for it. It is an adjust- 
ment to which both the great interests in this country may accede without 
either being dishonored. The triumph of neither is complete. Each, for 
the sake of peace, harmony, and union, makes some concessions. The 
South has contended that every vestige of protection should be eradicated 
from the statute-book, and the revenue standard forthwith adopted. In 
assenting to this bill, it waives that pretension — yields to reasonable pro- 
tection for nine years ; and consents, in consideration of the maximum of 
twenty per centum, to be subsequently applied, to discriminations below 
it, cash duties, home valuations, and a long list of free articles. The North 
and West have contended for the practical application of the principle 
of protection, regulated by no other limit than the necessary wants of the 
country. If they accede to this adjustment, they agree, in consideration 
of the stability and certainty which nine years' duration of a favorite 
system of policy affords, and of the other advantages which have been 
enumerated, to come down in 1842 to a limit not exceeding twenty per 
centum. Both parties, animated by a desire to avert the evils Avhich might 
flow from carrying out into all their consequences the cherished system of 
either, have met upon common ground, made mutual and friendly conces- 
sions, and, I trust, and sincerely believe, that neither will have, hereafter, 
occasion to regret, as neither can justly reproach the other with what 
may be now done. 

This, or some other measure of conciliation, is now more than ever ne- 
cessary, since the passage, through the Senate, of the enforcing bill. To 
that bill, if I had been present, on the final vote, I should have given my 
assent, although with great reluctance. I believe this government not only 
possessed of the constitutional power, but to be bound by every considera- 
tion, to maintain the authority of the laws. But I deeply regretted the 
necessity which seemed to me to require the passage of such a bill. And 
I was far from being without serious apprehensions as to the consequences 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 565 

to which it might lead. I felt no new-born zeal in favor of the present 
administration, of which I now think as I have always thought. I could 
not vote against the measure ; I would not speak in its behalf. I thought 
it most proper in me to leave to the friends of the administration and to 
others, who might feel themselves particularly called upon, to defend and 
sustain a strong measure of the administration. With respect to the series 
of acts to which the executive has resorted, in relation to our southern dis- 
turbance, this is not a fit occasion to enter upon a full consideration of 
them ; but I will briefly say, that, although the proclamation is a paper of 
uncommon ability and eloquence, doing great credit, as a composition, to 
him who prepared it, and to him who signed it, I think it contains some 
ultra doctrines which no party in this country had ventured to assert 
With these are mixed up many sound principles and just views of our 
political systems. If it is to be judged by its effects upon those to whom 
it was more immediately addressed, it must be admitted to have been ill- 
timed and unfortunate. Instead of allaying the excitement which prevailed 
it increased the exasperation in the infected district, and afforded new and 
unnecessary causes of discontent and dissatisfaction in the South generally. 
The message, subsequently transmitted to Congress, communicating the 
proceedings of South Carolina, and calling for countervailing enactments, 
was characterized with more prudence aud moderation. And if this un- 
happy contest is to continue, I sincerely hope, that the future conduct 
of the administration may be governed by wise and cautious counsels, 
and a parental forbearance. But when the highest degree of animosity 
exists ; when both parties, however unequal, have arrayed themselves for 
the conflict ; who can tell when, by the indiscretion of subordinates, or 
other unforeseen causes, the bloody struggle may commence ? In the midst 
of magazines, who knows when the fatal spark may produce a terrible ex- 
plosion ? And the battle once begun, where is its limit ? What latitude 
will circumscribe its rage ? Who is to command our armies ? When, and 
where, and how, is the war to cease ? In what condition will the peace 
leave the American system, the American Union, and, what is more than 
all, American liberty ? I can not profess to have a confidence, which I 
have not, in this administration, but if I had all confidence in it, I should 
still wish to pause, and, if possible, by any honorable adjustment, to pre- 
vent awful consequences, the extent of which no human wisdom can foresee. 
It appears to me, then, Mr. President, that we ought not to content our- 
selves with passing the enforcing bill only. Both that and the bill of peace 
seem to me to be required for the good of our country. The first will 
satisfy all who love order and law, and disapprove the inadmissible doc- 
trine of nullification. The last will soothe those who love peace and con- 
cord, harmony aud union. One demonstrates the power and the disposition 
to vindicate the authority and supremacy of the laws of the Union ; the 
other offers that which, if it be accepted in the fraternal spirit in wmich 
it is tendered, will supersede the necessity of the employment of all force. 



566 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

There are some who say, Let the tariff go down ; let our manufactures 
be prostrated, if such be the pleasure, at another session, of those to whose 
hands the government of this country is confided ; let bankruptcy and 
ruin be spread over the land ; and let resistance to the laws, at all hazards, 
be subdued. Sir, they take counsel from their passions. They anticipate a 
terrible reaction from the downfall of the tariff, which would ultimately 
re-establish it upon a firmer basis than ever. But it is these very agita- 
tions, these mutual irritations between brethren of the same family, it is the 
individual distress and general ruin that would necessarily follow the over- 
throw of the tariff, that ought, if possible, to be prevented. Besides, are 
we certain of this reaction? Have we not been disappointed in it as to 
other measures heretofore ? But suppose, after a long and embittered strug- 
gle, it should come, in what relative condition would it find the parts of 
this confederacy ? In what state our ruined manufactures ? When they 
should be laid low, who, amid the fragments of the general wreck, scattered 
over the face of the land, would have courage to engage in fresh enterprises, 
under a new pledge of the violated faith of the government 1 If we 
adjourn, without passing this bill, having intrusted the executive with vast 
powers to maintain the laws, should he be able by the next session to put 
down all opposition to them, will he not, as a necessary consequence of suc- 
cess, have more power than ever to put down the tariff also ? Has he not 
said that the South is oppressed, and its burdeus ought to be relieved ? And 
will he not feel himself bound, after he shall have triumphed, if triumph he 
may, in a civil war, to appease the discontents of the South by a modifica- 
tion of the tariff, in conformity with its wishes and demands ? No, sir ; 
no, sir ; let us save the country from the most dreadful of all calamities, 
and let us save its industry, too, from threatened destruction. Statesmen 
should regulate their conduct and adapt their measures to the exigences of 
the times in which they live. They can not, indeed, transcend the limits 
of the constitutional rule ; but with respect to those systems of policy 
which fall within its scope, they should arrange them according to the in- 
terests, the wants, and the prejudices of the people. Two great dangers 
threaten the public safety. The true patriot will not stop to inquire how 
they have been brought about, but will fly to the deliverance of his 
country. The difference between the friends and the foes of the compro- 
mise, under consideration, is, that they w*ould, in the enforcing act, send 
forth alone a flaming sword. We would send out that also, but along with 
it the olive branch, as a messenger of peace. They cry out, The law ! the 
law ! the law ! Power ! power ! power ! We, too, reverence the law, and 
bow to the supremacy of its obligations ; but we are in favor of the law 
executed in mildness, and of power tempered with mercy. They, as we 
think, would hazard a civil commotion, beginning in South Carolina, and 
extending, God only knows where. While we would vindicate the federal 
government, we are for peace, if possible, union, and liberty. We want no 
war, above all, no civil war, no family strife. We want to see no sacked 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 567 

cities, no desolated fields, no smoking ruins, no streams of American blood 
shed by American arms ! 

I have been accused of ambition in presenting tbis measure. Ambition ! 
inordinate ambition ! If I bad thought of myself only, I should have 
never brought it forward. I know well the perils to which I expose my- 
self; the risk of alienating faithful and valued friends, with but little pros- 
pect of making new ones, if any new ones could compensate for the loss 
of those whom we have long tried and loved ; and the honest misconcep- 
tions both of friends and foes. Ambition ! If I had listened to its soft 
and seducing whispers ; if I had yielded myself to the dictates of a cold, 
calculating, and prudential policy, I would have stood still and unmoved. 
I might even have silently gazed on the raging storm, enjoyed its loudest 
thunders, and left those who are charged with the care of the vessel of 
state, to conduct it as they could. I have been heretofore often unjustly 
accused of ambition. Low, groveling souls, who are utterly incapable of 
elevating themselves to the higher and nobler duties of pure patriotism — 
beings, who, forever keeping their own selfish aims in view, decide all pub- 
lic measures by their presumed influence on their aggrandizement — judjje 
me by the venal rule which they prescribe to themselves. I have given to 
the winds those false accusations, as I consign that which now impeaches 
my motives. I have no desire for office, not even the highest. The most 
exalted is but a prison, in which the incarcerated incumbent daily receives 
his cold, heartless visitants, marks his weary hours, and is cut off from the 
practical enjoyment of all the blessings of genuine freedom. I am no can- 
didate for any office in the gift of the people of these States, united or 
separated ; I never wish, never expect to be. Pass this bill, tranquilize the 
country, restore confidence and affection in the Union, and I am willing to 
go home to Ashland, and renounce public service forever. I should there 
find, in its groves, under its shades, on its lawns, amid my flocks and herds, 
in the bosom of my family, sincerity and truth, attachment, and fidelity, 
and gratitude, which I have not always found in the walks of public life. 
Yes, I have ambition ; but it is the ambition of being the humble instru- 
ment, iu the hands of Providence, to reconcile a divided people ; once more 
to revive concord and harmony in a distracted land — the pleasing ambition 
of contemplating the glorious spectacle of a free, united, prosperous, and 
fraternal people ! 



THE COMPKOMISE TARIFF (Continued). 

IN SENATE, MARCH 1, 1833. 

[A bill to enforce the federal laws in South Carolina had be- 
come a law. Hence the propriety of the healing measure of 
the Compromise Tariff. The following concluding remarks of 
Mr. Clay on this important measure, though few, are worthy of 
record.] 

Mr. Clay then said a few words in reference to this bill, and the enforc- 
ing bill, both of which he considered that it was necessary to send forth, 
as well to show that the laws must be executed, as that there is a disposi- 
tion to make concessions. He stated, that on the subject of the govern- 
ment's being a compact, he principally agreed with the senator from South 
Carolina, but with some difference as to the character of the right conferred 
by that compact. He did not adopt the opinion, that there had been any 
advance made in usurpation of powers by the general government. He 
then went into a view of the history of this system, to show that, twelve 
or thirteen years ago, there was no opposition raised against the power of 
Congress to protect domestic industry. The opposition on constitutional 
grounds had subsequently grown up. He then stated that, in his opinion, 
no State could so practically construe the Constitution as to nullify the 
laws of the Uuited States, without plunging the country into all the 
miseries of anarchy. He said that be adhered to the doctrines of that 
ablest, wisest, and purest of American statesmen, James Madison, who still 
lives, and resides in Virginia — the doctrines which were advanced by him 
in 1799. The answer of that distinguished man to the resolutions of the 
other States, and his address to the people, effected a sudden revolution of 
public opinion. The people rallied around him ; the alien and sedition 
laws were repealed ; and the usurpations of the general government were 
arrested. He viewed the government as federative in its origin, in its char- 
acter, and in its operation, and under the clause of the Constitution which 
gives to Congress power to pass all laws to carry into effect the granted 
powers, they could pass all necessary laws. He hoped that the effect of 
this bill would conciliate all classes and all sections of the Union. 

He did not arrogate any merit for the passage of this bill. He had 
cherished this system as a favorite child, and he still clung to it, and 



ON THE COMPROMISE TARIFF. 5G9 

should still cling to it. Why had he been reproached ? He had come to the 
child and fouud it in the hands of the Philistines, who were desirous to 
destroy it. He wished to save and cherish it, and to find for it better and 
safer nurses. He did not wish to employ the sword, but to effect Lis object 
by concession and conciliation. He wished to see the system placed on a 
securer basis, to plant it in the bosoms and affections of the people. The 
gentleman from Pennsylvania, who had learned his views of the system 
from the senator from South Carolina, had spoken of him as the pilot who 
was directing the vessel. If it was so, he would ask if she had been se- 
cured by a faithful crew ? If all had been faithful, he believed there would 
have been no danger in assailing the system. He assailed no one ; he 
merely defended himself against the reproaches of others. 

Auother motive with him was to preserve the Union. He feared he 
saw hands uplifted to destroy the system; he saw the Union endangered; 
and in spite of all peril which might assail himself, he had determined to 
6tand forward and attempt the rescue. 

He felt himself pained exceedingly in being obliged to separate on the 
question, from valued friends, especially from his friend from Massachusetts, 
whom he had always respected, and whom he still respected. He then re- 
plied to the argument founded on the idea thatthe protective principle had 
been abandoned by this bill. He admitted that protection had been better 
secured by former bills, but there was no surrender by this. He considered 
revenue as the first object, and protection as the second. As to the reduc- 
tion of the revenue, he was of opiuion that there was au error in the cal- 
culations of gentlemen. He thought that, in the article of silks alone, there 
would be a considerable reduction. The protection to the mechanic arts 
was only reduced by the whole operation of the bill to twenty-six per cen- 
tum, and he did not know that there would be any just ground for com- 
plaint, as some of the mechanic arts now enjoy only twenty-five per 
centum. 

The argument of the senator from New York (Mr. Wright) was against 
the bill, but he was happy to find his vote was to be for it. If his argu- 
ment brought other minds to the same conclusion to which it had brought 
his, the bill would not be in any danger. He would say, save the coun- 
try ; save the Union ; and save the American system. 



ON PRESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE 

LAND BILL. 

IN" SENATE, DECEMBER 5, 1833. 

[Mr. Clay's Land Bill had passed both Houses of Congress, 
on the 1st of March, 1833, by majorities sufficiently large to 
make it a law against the president's veto, or to make it proba- 
ble that such would be the result of such a contingency. But 
General Jackson did not return the bill, but put it in his pocket 
for future use. On the 4th of March of this year, the Twenty- 
second Congress ceased to exist, and with it expired the first 
term of General Jackson's presidency. Consequently, it was 
impossible that General Jackson, who entered on his second 
term of office as a newly-elected president, the 4th of March, 
1833, or that the Twenty-third Congress which came in on 
that day, could either of them constitutionally enter on any un- 
finished business of the Twenty-second Congress. Nor could the 
Twenty-third Congress take it up, except de novo. The Con- 
stitution prescribes, that a bill which has passed both Houses of 
Congress, if not approved by the president, shall be returned by 
him in ten days to the House in which it originated, with his 
reasons. But the same Senate which originated Mr. Clay's 
Land Bill did not exist after the 3d of March, 1833. The bill, 
therefore, was evidently dead, and General Jackson killed it by 
retaining it in his pocket, and not returning it to the Senate of 
the Twenty-second Congress. Nevertheless, General Jackson, a 
new president, being in his second term, sent back the bill to 
the new Senate of the Twenty-third Congress, with his reasons 
for disapproving it. He took a dead carcass, murdered by his 
own hand, and flung it on the floor of the Senate of the United 
States ! 

The retaining of the bill was an unwarranted assumption of 
power, which would have been tolerated in no man except Gen- 
eral Jackson ; and throwing it at the Senate of the Twenty- 
third Congress was an insult to that body, which could not 
entertain^ and which had no right to touch it. It would have 



ON PKESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE LAND BILL. 571 

"been equally proper to send it to one of the Houses of the Brit- 
ish Parliament, as neither they nor cither House of the Twenty- 
third Congress bad anv constitutional connection with it. It 
was dead also in General Jackson's hands, after the 3d of March, 
1833, as the only term of its vitality was ten days after it was 
handed to the president, during which term, if the same Con- 
gress had continued, and the same president heen in the chair, 
it should have been approved, or returned with a veto ; or if 
neither approved nor returned, it would pass into law sub silentis. 
If, however, Congress adjourns before ten days, it can not be- 
come a law ; and if the president neither approves nor returns 
it before the adjournment that happens within ten days, it is of 
course dead. The Twenty-second Congress, however, did not 
adjourn in this case ; but it expired on the 3d of March, which 
might possibly raise the question, whether the bill, not having 
been approved or returned, did not become a law ; but it could 
not raise the question, whether General Jackson, in his second 
term of office, had any right to touch it. If the bill did not 
become a law in consequence of his neglect of it during his first 
term, it was dead. 

All these things were perfectly well known to General Jack- 
son, and yet he pocketed the bill, and returned it to the Senate 
of the Twenty-third Congress, a new body, himself a newly- 
elected president, and therefore not the same official to whom 
the bill was sent, although the same person.] 

This measure had been first introduced into Congress at the session be- 
fore the last, under circumstances which must be within the recollection of 
every member of the Senate. Its object was, to dispose of the proceeds of 
the public lands for a limited time. The subject had been greatly discussed 
not only in Congress, but throughout the country. The principles and 
provisions of the bill were well and generally understood. The subject had 
attracted the attention of the chief magistrate himself, and this bill was 
made the subject of commentary in his message at the commencement of 
the last session of Congress. It must, therefore, be considered as a subject 
perfectly well understood by the president, for it was not to be supposed 
that he would have commented upon it, and recommended it to the atten- 
tion of Congress, if it had not been understood. During the last session, 
this bill, which had previously beeu before the House, was introduced in 
this body, and was passed, and sent to the other House, whence it was 
returned with a slight amendment, taking away the discretion which had 
been vested in the State Legislatures as to the disposal of the proceeds- 
This bill, which had been before Congress the session, before tho last, 



572 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

which had passed at the last session, having been before the country for 
a whole year, when it passed the two Houses, was placed before the ex- 
ecutive, with a number of other measures, just before the close of the last 
Congress. As the subject had been before the president for consideration 
so long previously to the passage of the bill, and he had reflected upon 
it, it was not to have been expected that he would take advantage of the 
shortness of the session to retain the bill until this time. Yet such 
had been the fact, and a proceeding had taken place which was unpre- 
cedented and alarming, and which, unless the people of this country 
were lost to all sense of what was due to the legislative branch of the gov- 
ernment, to themselves, and to those principles of liberty which had been 
transmitted to tliein from the Revolution, they would not tolerate. It was 
at least due to the Legislature, that the president should have sent a few 
lines, courteously informing them, that when his own mind was made up 
he would communicate the result. But, without deigning to make known 
his intention, or to impart the reasons which influenced him, he despotically 
kept silence, and retained the bill. He begged leave to congratulate the 
Senate on the return of the bill. The question Avhich now presented it- 
self was, whether the bill was dead, in consequence of the non-action of 
the president, or whether it had become an existing law. He was not 
now about to discuss that question ; but he had felt himself called on to 
make a few observations on the extraordinary course, and to say that it 
was due to Congress, to the people, and to the executive himself, to have 
informed the last Congress in reference to this subject, concerning which 
he must have made up his mind. He would now move to lay this bill on 
the table, and would afterward give notice of a day when he should ask 
leave to bring in a bill in order to submit it again to the action of the 
Senate. 

Mr. Kane wished to know if it was the intention of the senator from 
Kentucky that the bill should lie permanently on the table, or only to be 
called up at an early day. 

Mr. Clay replied that the only alternative was to consider the bill as 
defunct, or as an existing law. If the gentleman from Illinois could point 
out any other course, he had read some clause in the Constitution which 
he (Mr. Clay) had never been so fortunate as to find. 

Mi-. Benton said he would wish to make a remark ; and, if he was pre- 
cluded by the pi-essing of this question, he would find some other oppor- 
tunity of making it. 

The question was then taken on the motion to lay the bill upon the 
table, and decided in the affirmative — ayes nineteen. 

Mr. Benton then moved to take up the message for consideration 

After further discussion, Mr. Clay said he did not rise to reply to any 
one who had felt himself called upon to rise in the Senate to vindicate the 
president. If there were any such member, he did not wish to disturb 
him in his office of vindicator of the president, or to affect the complacency 



ON PKESIDENT JACKSON'S VETO OF THE LAND BILL. 573 

with which he might regard his vindication. But he (Mr. Clay) stood here 
to sustain his own course, to vindicate the Constitution, and to vindicate 
the rights of Congress under it. And he must repeat, that the withhold- 
ing of the land bill, at the last session, under the circumstances of the 
case, was a violation of the Constitution, and disrespectful to the Senate. 
What were the circumstances ? 

At two different sessions of Congress, the land subject was before it. 
At that which preceded the last, a bill had been introduced to distribute 
among the States the proceeds of the public lands. The whole subject, by 
the bill and by reports of committees, was laid before Congress and spread 
before the' country. A copy of the bill, when it was first introduced, ac- 
cording to the constant practice of Congress, was sent to the president. 
He was thus, as well as the country generally, put in entire possession of 
the matter. It attracted great public attention. It engaged that of the 
president. And, accordingly, at the commencement of the last session, in 
his annual message, he adverted to it, in a manner which evidently showed 
that the writer of the message fully understood it, and all the views which 
had been developed about it. 

[Here Mr. Clay read the message of the last session, so far as it related to 
the public lands, to show that the president had himself invited the attention 
of Congress to it, as one of urgent and pressing importance ; that the discretion 
of Congress to make any disposition of the public lands, which they might 
deem best for the harmony, union, and interest of the United States, was un- 
controlled ; that the question ought speedily to be settled ; and that the presi- 
dent had considered, but objected to the bill of the previous session, proposing, 
as a substitute, a plan of his own, which, while the message on the table argued 
that the public lands belonged to all the States, proposed to give the unsold 
lands to some of them.] 

Thus was Congress, at the commencement of the last session, officially 
invited to act, and to act speedily, respectiug the public lands ; and thus 
did the president manifest his knowledge of the provisions of the bill of 
the previous session. Well, sir, Congress again took up the question. 
The identical bill of the previous session was again introduced, and again, 
prior to its passage, placed before the president, along with the other 
printed documents, according to standing usage. And it was passed by 
both Houses, substantially in the shape in which at the previous session it 
was passed by the Senate, except that the restriction as to the power of 
the States to supply the sum to be distributed among the several States, 
after the deduction of the twelve and a half per centum first set apart for 
the new States, was stricken out. 

In this form, the bill was laid before the president on the 2d day of 
March last. It was no stranger, but an old acquaintance. He had seen it 
repeatedly before ; and he must have been well informed as to its progress 
in Congress. He had commented on the very project contained in the 



574 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

bill, when be bad brought forward his own in his message, at the opening 
of the session. Without deiffninsf to communicate to Congress what dis- 
position he had made, or meant to make of it, he permitted the body to 
rise, in utter ignorance of his intentions. 

It may be true that there was a great press of business on the president 
on the 2d of March, and that he may have acted upon some ninety or 
one hundred bills. But this is what occurs with every president on the 
day before the termination of the short session of Congress. With most 
of those bills the president must have been less acquainted than he was 
with the land bill. Of some of them he probably had never heard at all. 
Not one of them possessed the importance of the land bill. How did it 
happen that the president could find time to decide on so many new bills, 
and yet had not time to examine and dispose of one which bad long been 
before him and the public ; one embracing a subject which he thought 
the union, harmony, and interests of the States required should be speedily 
adjusted ; one which he himself had pronounced his judgment upon at 
the commencement of the session ? By withholding the bill, the president 
took upon himself a responsibility beyond the exercise of the veto. He 
deprived Congress altogether of its constitutional right to act upon the bill, 
and to pass it, his negative notwithstanding. 

The president is, by the Constitution, secured time to consider bills 
which shall have passed both branches of Congress. But so is Congress 
equally secured the right to act upon bills which they have passed, and 
which the president may have thought proper to reject. If he exercises 
his veto, and returns the bill, two thirds may pass it. But if he withholds 
the bill, it can not become a kvw, even although the two Houses should be 
unanimously in its favor. 

Mr. Clay denied that the Constitution gave to the president ten days to 
consider bills, except at the long session. At that session the period of its 
termination is uncertain, and dependent upon the will of Congress. To 
guard against a sudden adjournment, by which the president might be de- 
prived of due time to deliberate on an important bill, the Constitution pro- 
vides for ten days at that session. But, at the short session, it is not an 
adjournment, but a dissolution of Congress, on the 3d of March, and the 
day of that dissolution is fixed in the Constitution itself, and known to all. 

Mr. Clay contended, therefore, that the act of withholding the bill was 
arbitrary and unconstitutional, by which Congress, and the Senate espe- 
cially, in which the bill originated, were deprived of their constitutional 
right of passing on the bill, after the president had exercised his powers. 
Respect to Congress required of the president, if he really had not time to 
form a judgment on the bill, or, having formed it, had not time to lay his 
reasons before the body, a communication to that effect. But, without 
condescending to transmit one word upon the subject to Congress, he suf- 
fered the session to terminate, and the members to go home destitute of all 
information, until this day, of his intentions. 

Mr. Benton then withdrew his motion to take up the bill. 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS 

IN SENATE, DECEMBER 26, 1833. 

[History is philosophy teaching by example. This maxim 
has great force in application to the facts which constitute the 
subject of the following speech. The liberties of the country 
never came so near a wreck as when General Jackson removed 
the deposits from the Bank of the United States, and the 
American people will never know their obligations to Mr. Clay 
for stepping forward on this occasion, and rebuking, as he did, 
this alarming assumption of power. The following speech is 
now history, and it is almost incredible. General Jackson had 
gained an irresistible ascendency over the minds of the people, 
and he wanted that balance of character which is required to 
use it for the best ends. His first election was a triumph, and 
his second election seated him firm in the seat of power. He 
was giddy in his elevation, and knew that he could do what he 
pleased ; and he set out to do it with a strong hand. Neither 
the Constitution nor the laws could stand in his way, and they 
snapped like threads before his will. Mr. Clay was the only 
man that could stand up in the Senate of the nation, and de- 
pict these enormities as they deserved. True, General Jackson 
was not the man to heed advice from that quarter, delivered in 
such terms, if he had not gone too far, and shocked the sense 
of the nation, and if there had not been those about him who 
could have some influence in checking and modifying his violent 
passions. This speech of Mr. Clay, simply because it was true, 
told with tremendous power, not only on General Jackson, indi- 
rectly through that public opinion on which it acted to arrest 
his career of usurpation ; but it told also with not less effect on 
the man who consented to be the tool of this outrage on the 
Constitution and laws ; and it will never be forgotten, that he 
who has officiated as Chief Justice of the United States for a 
quarter of a century, purchased that high dignity by having ob- 
sequiously bowed himself to the order of a master ! He, whose 



576 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

first act in the public service was a violation of the Constitution 
and the law?, was put at the head of a bench which was or- 
dained to judge of the Constitution and laws for all the people 
of the United S ! And he was put there because he him- 

self had been a violator of both ! In this may be seen how the 
very fountain of justice is open to corruption by bribery. It is 
not denk Justice Taney may have adorned his posi- 

- the head of the federal judiciary, nor that he has not 
generally discharged his duties with fidelity. Possibly this speech 
of Mr. Clay may have had a salutary influence upon him. For, 
if otherwise fit for the place he has so long filled, he must have 
been well endowed with qualities to profit by the lecture that 
was read to him in the Senate of the United States. December 
26. 1833, and which from that time has been ringing in his ears. 
But the great fact, that he purchased that high cfhce by one of 
the most " i lent outrages on the Constitution and laws of the 
Unit £ an never be obliterated from history, so long as 

the following speech of Mr. Clay constitutes a part of history. 
It is true tb ief Justice Taney was then only Secretary of 

the Treasury ; but it is equally well known that he was made 
Chief Justi ause he consented to remove the depos: - 

The influence of this speech, and of other similar efforts of 
Mr. C 1 -. in arresting the mad career of General Jackson, and 
saving the country from impending calamities, can never be 
known ; but it v and wide-spread, and will never cease 

to be instructive as a matter of history.] 

Res * late Secretary of the Treasury, because he 
we. sense of his own duty, remove the money of the 
United E bank of I States and its branches, 
in c aid by appohr r to 
effe been done, the presiden: -umed the exer- 
cise of a t I States not granted to him by 
the I .erous to the liberties of the people. 

:ed by the J 7 of the Treasury for the 

removal of the n i United S 1 i in the bank of the United 

States and communicated to Cv n the 3d of December. 1833, 
are uns ... y and 

We are in the midst of a revolution, hitherto bloodless, but rapidly 
tending toward a total change of the pure republican character of the gov- 
ernment, and to the concentration of all power in the hands of one man. 
The power- I ogress are paralyzed, except when exerted in conformity 
with his will, by frequent and an extraordinary exercise of the executive 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSIT B 577 

veto, not anticipated by the founders of our Constitution, and not practiced 
by any of the predecessors of the present chief magistrate. And, to cramp 
them still more, a new expedient is springing into use, of withholding alto 
gether bills which have received the sanction of both Houses of Congress, 
thereby cutting off all opportunity of passing them, even if, after their 
return, the members should be unanimous in their favor. The constitu- 
tional participation of the Senate in the appointing power is virtually abol- 
ished by the constant - :he power of removal from office, without any 
known cause, and ' by the appointment of the same individual to the same 
office after his i a by the Senate. How often have we, senators, felt 

that the check of the Senate, instead of being, as the Constitution intended, 
a salutaiy control, was an idle ceremony \ How often, when acting on the 
case of the nominated successor, have we felt the injustice of the removal ? 
How often have we said to each other, well, what can we do \ the office 
can not remain vacant without prejudice to the public interest, and, if we 
reject the proposed substitute, we can not restore the displaced ; and, per- 
haps, some more unworthy man may be nominated. 

The judiciary has not been exempt from the prevailing rage for innova- 
tion. Decisions of the tribunals, deliberately pronounced, have been con- 
temptuously disregarded. And the sanctity of numerous tre i - - openly 
violated. Our Indian relations, coeval with the existence of the govern- 
ment, and recognized and established by numerous laws and treaties, have 
been subverted, the rights of the helpless and unfortunate aborigines 
trampled in the dust, and they brought under subjection to unknown laws, 
in which they have no voice, promulgated in an unknown language. The 
most extensive and most valuable public domain that ever fell to the lot of 
one nation, is threatened with a total sacrifice. The general currency of 
the countrv — the lite-blood of all its business — is in the most imminent 
danger of universal disorder and confusion. The power of internal im- 
provement lies crushed beneath the veto. The system of protection of 
American industry was snatched from impending destruction at the last 
session ; but we are now coolly told by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
without a blush, "that it is understood to be conceded on all hands, that 
the tariff for protection merely is to be finally abandoned." By the 3d of 
March, 1837, if the progress of innovation continues, there will be scarcely 
a vestige remaining of the government and its policy, as they existed prior 
to the 3d of March, 1829. In a term of eight years, a little more than 
equal to that which was required to establish our liberties, the government 
will have been transformed into an elective monarchy — the worst of all 
forms of government. 

Such is a melancholy but faithful picture of the present condition of 
our public affairs. It is not sketched or exhibited to excite, here or else- 
where, irritated feeling. I have no such purpose. I would, on the con- 
trary, implore the Senate and the people to discard all passion and prejudice, 
and to look calmly, but resolutely, upon the actual state of the Constitution 

37 



578 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

and tne country. Although I bring into the Senate the same unabated 
spirit, and the same firm determination which have ever guided me in the 
support of civil liberty, and the defense of our Constitution, I contemplate 
the prospect before us with feelings of deep humiliation and profound 
mortification. 

It is not among the least unfortunate symptoms of the times, that a 
large portion of the good and enlightened men of the Union, of all par- 
ties, are yielding to sentiments of despondency. There is, unhappily, a 
feeling of distrust and insecurity pervading the community. Many of our 
best citizens entertain serious apprehensions, that our Union and our insti- 
tutions are destined to a speedy overthrow. Sir, I trust that the hopes 
and confidence of the country will revive. There is much occasion for 
manly independence and patriotic vigor, but none for despair. Thank 
God, we are yet free ; and, if we put on the chains which are forgeing 
for us, it will be because we deserve to wear them. We should never de- 
spair of the republic. If our ancestors had been capable of surrendering 
themselves to such ignoble sentiments, our independence and our liberties 
would never have been achieved. The winter of 1776-7 was one of the 
gloomiest periods of the Revolution ; but on this day, fifty-seven years ago, 
the father of his country achieved a glorious victoiy, which diffused joy and 
gladness and animation throughout the States. Let us cherish the hope 
that, since he has gone from among us, Providence, in the dispensation of 
his mercies, has near at hand in reserve for us, though yet unseen by us, 
some sure and happy deliverance from all impending dangers. 

When we assembled here last year, we were full of dreadful forebodings. 
On the one hand we were menaced with a civil war, which, lighted up in 
a single State, might spread its flames throughout one of the largest sec- 
tions of the Union. On the other, a cherished system of policy, essential 
to the successful prosecution of the industry of our countrymen, was ex- 
posed to imminent danger of immediate destruction. Means were happily 
applied by Congress to avert both calamities ; the country was reconciled, 
and our Union once more became a band of friends and brothers. And I 
shall be greatly disappointed, if we do not find those who were denounced 
as being unfriendly to the continuance of our confederacy, among the fore- 
most to fly to its preservation, and to resist all executive encroachment. 

Mr. President, when Congress adjourned, at the termination of the last 
session, there was one remnant of its powers, that over the purse, left un- 
touched. The two most important powers of civil government are, those of 
the sword and the purse. The first, with some restriction, is confided by 
the Constitution to the executive, and the last to the legislative department. 
If they are separate, and exercised by different responsible departments, 
civil liberty is safe ; but if they are united in the hands of the same in- 
dividual, it is gone. That clear-sighted and sagacious revolutionary orator 
and patriot, Patrick Henry, justly said, in the Virginia convention, in reply 
to one of his opponents : 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 579 

" Let Mm candidly tell me where and when did freedom exist, when the sword 
and purse were given up from the people ? Unless a miracle in human affairs 
interposed, no nation ever retained its liberty after the loss of the sword and the 
purse. Can you prove by any augmentative deduction, that it is possible to be 
safe without one of them ? If you give them up you are gone." 

Up to the period of the termination of the last session of Congress, the 
exclusive constitutional power of Congress over the treasury of the United 
States had never been contested. Among its earliest acts was one to estab- 
lish the treasury department, which provided for the appointment of a 
treasurer who was required to give bond and security in a very large 
amount, " to receive and keep the money of the United States, and to dis- 
burse the same, upon warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
countersigned by the comptroller, recorded by the register, and not other- 
wise." Prior to the establishment of the present bank of the United 
States, no treasury or place had been provided and designated by law r for 
the safe-keeping of the public moneys, but the treasurer was left to his own 
discretion and responsibility. When the existing bank was established, it 
was provided that the public moneys should be deposited with it, and con- 
sequently that bank became the treasury of the United States. For what- 
ever place is designated by law for the keeping of the public money of 
the United States, under the care of the treasurer of the United States, is 
for the time being the treasury. Its safety was drawn in question by the 
chief magistrate, and an agent was appointed, a little more than a year 
ago, to investigate its ability. He reported to the executive, that it was 
perfectly safe. His apprehensions of its solidity were communicated by 
the president to Congress, and a committee was appointed to examine the 
subject. They, also, reported in favor of its security. And, finally, among 
the last acts of the House of Representatives, prior to the close of the 
last session, was the adoption of a resolution, manifesting its entire confi- 
dence in the ability and solidity of the bank. 

After all these testimonies to the perfect safety of the public moneys, in 
the place appointed by Congress, who could have supposed that the place 
would have been changed ? Who could have imagined, that within sixty 
days of the meeting of Congress, and, as it were, in utter contempt of its 
authority, the change should have been ordered ? Who would have 
dreamed, that the treasurer should have thrown away the single key to the 
treasury, over which Congress held ample control, and accepted in lieu of 
it some dozens of keys, over which neither Congress nor he has any ade- 
quate control ? Yet, sir, all this has been done ; and it is now our solemn 
duty to inquire, first by whose authority it has been ordered ? and, 
secondly, whether the order has been given in conformity with the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States ? 

I agree, sir, and I am happy whenever I can agree with the president, as 
to the immense importance of these questions. He says, in a paper which 
I hold in my hand, that he looks upon the pending question as involving 



580 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

higher consideration than the " mere transfer of a sum of money from one 
bank to another. Its decision may affect the character of our government 
for ages to come." And with him, I view it as of transcendent importance, 
both in its consequences and the great principles which the question in- 
volves. In the view which I have taken of this subject, I hold the bank 
as nothing, as perfectly insignificant, faithful as it has been in the perform- 
ance of ail its duties, efficient as it has proved in regulating the currency, 
than which there is none in all Christendom so sound, and deep as is the 
interest of the country in the establishment and continuance of a sound 
currency, and the avoidance of all those evils which result from a defective 
or unsettled currency. All these I regard as questions of no importance, 
in comparison with the principles involved in this executive innovation. It 
involves the distribution of power by the executive, and the taking away a 
power from Congress which it was never before doubted to possess — the 
power over the public purse. Entertaining these views, I shall not, to-day, 
at least, examine the reasons assigned by the president, or by the Secretary 
of the Treasury ; for if the president had no power to perform the act, no 
reasons however cogent or strong, which he can assign as urffin^ him to 
the accomplishment of his purpose, no reasons, can sanctify an unconstitu- 
tional and illegal act. 

The first question, sir, which I intimated it to be my purpose to examine, 
was, by whose direction was this change of the deposits made-? 

Now, sir, is there any man who hears me, who requires proof on this 
point? Is there an intelligent man in the whole country who does not 
know who it was that decided on the removal of the deposits ? Is it not 
of universal notoriety ? Does any man doubt that it was the act of the 
president ? That it was done by his authority and at his commaud ? The 
president, on this subject, has himself furnished evidence which is perfectly 
conclusive, in the paper which he has read to his cabinet ; for, although he 
has denied to the Senate an official copy of that paper, it is universally 
admitted that he has given it to the world, as containing the reasons which 
influenced him to this act. As a part of the people, if not in our senato- 
rial character, we have a right to avail ourselves of that paper, and of all 
which it contains. Is it not perfectly conclusive as to the authority by 
which the deposits have been removed? I admit that it is an unprece- 
dented and most extraordinary power. The Constitution of the United 
States admits of a call, from the chief magistrate, on the heads of depart- 
ments, for their opinions in writing. 

It appears, indeed, that this power which the Constitution confers on the 
president, had been exercised, and that the cabinet were divided, two and 
two ; and one, who was ready to go on either side, being a little indifferent 
how this great constitutional power was settled by the president. The 
president was not satisfied with calling on his cabinet for their opinions, 
in the customary and constitutional form ; but he prepares a paper of his 
own, and instead of receiving reasons from them, reads to them, and thus 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 581 

indoctrinates them according to his own views. This, sir, is the first time 
in the history of our country, when a paper has been thus read, and thus 
published. The proceeding is entirely without precedent. Those who 
now exercise power, consider all precedents wrong. They hold precedents 
in contempt ; and casting them aside, have commenced a new era in 
administration. But while they thus hold all precedents in contempt, disre- 
garding all, no matter how long established, no matter to what departments 
of the government they may have given sanction, they are always disposed 
to shield themselves behind a precedent, whenever they can find one to 
subserve their purpose. 

But the question is, Who gave the order for the removal of the deposits ? 
By whose act were they removed from the bank of the United States, 
where they were required by the law to be placed, and placed in banks 
which the law never designated ? I tell the gentlemen who are opposed to 
me, that I am not to be answered by the exhibition of an order signed by 
R. Taney, or any one else. I want to know, not the clerk who makes the 
writing, but the individual who dictates — not the hangman who executes 
the culprit, but tho tribunal which orders the execution. I want the orig- 
inal authority, that I may know by whose order, on whose authority, the 
public deposits were removed, and I again ask, is there a member of this 
Senate, is there an intelligent man in the whole country, who doubts on 
this point ? Hear what the president himself says, in his manifesto read to 
his cabinet : 

" The president deems it his duty, to communicate in this manner to his cab- 
inet the final conclusion of his own mind, and the reasons on which they are 
founded," and so forth. 

At the conclusion of this paper what does he say ? 

" The president again repeats, that he begs his cabinet to consider the pro- 
posed measure as his own, in the support of which he shall require no one of 
them to make a sacrifice of opinion or principle. Its responsibility has been as- 
sumed, after the most mature reflection, as necessary to preserve the morals ot 
the people, the freedom of the press, and the purity of the elective franchise, 
without which all will unite in saying, that the blood and treasure expended by 
our forefathers in the establishment of our happy system of government will 
have been vain and fruitless. Under these convictions he feels that a measure 
so important to the American people can not be commenced too soon ; and he 
therefore names the 1st day of October next as a period proper for the change 
of the deposits, or sooner, provided the necessary arrangements with the State 
banks can be made." 

Sir, is there a senator here who will tell me that this removal was not 
made by the president? I know, indeed, that there are in this document 
many of those most mild, most gracious, most condescending expressions, 
with which power too well knows how to clothe its mandates. The presi- 



582 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

dent coaxes, he soothes the secretary, in the most bland and conciliating 
lanrruao-e : 

" In the remarks he has made on this all-important question, he trusts the 
Secretary of the Treasury will see only the frank and respectful declarations of 
the opinions which the president has formed on a measure of great national 
interest, deeply affecting the character and usefulness of his administration ; and 
not a spirit of dictation, which the president would be as careful to avoid, as 
to resist. Happy will he be, if the facts now disclosed produce uniformity of 
opinion and unity of action among the members of the administration." 

Sir, how kind ! how gentle ! How very gracious must this have sounded 
in the gratified ear of the Secretary of the Treasury ! Sir, it reminds me 
of an historical anecdote, related of one of the most remarkable char- 
acters which our species has ever produced. While Oliver Cromwell was 
contending for the mastery of Great Britain or Ireland (I do not now 
remember which), he besieged a certain Catholic town. The place made a 
stout resistance ; but at length the town being likely to be taken, the poor 
Catholics proposed terms of capitulation, stipulating therein for the tolera- 
tion of their religion. The paper containing the terms was brought to 
Oliver, who, putting on his spectacles to read it, cried out, " Oh, granted, 
granted, certainly ;" he added, however, " but if one of them shall dare to 
be found attending mass, he shall be hanged ;" (under what section is not 
mentioned ; whether under a second, or any other section, of any particu- 
lar law, we are not told). 

Thus, sir, the secretary was told by the president, that he had not the 
slightest wish to dictate — Oh, no ; nothing is further from the president's 
intention ; but, sir, what was he told in the sequel ? " If you do not com- 
ply with my wishes — if you do not effect the removal of these deposits 
within the period I assign you — you must quit your office." And what, 
sir, was the effect ? This document bears date on the 18th of September. 
In the official paper, published at the seat of government, and through 
which it is understood that the government makes known its wishes and 
purposes to the people of the United States, we were told, under date of 
the 20th of September, 1833, two days only after this cabinet paper was 
read, as follows : 

" We are authorized to state" — [authorized ; this is the word which gave 
credit to this annunciation — ] " We are authorized to state, that the deposits of 
the public money will be changed from the bank of the United States to the 
State banks, as soon as necessary arrangements can be made for that purpose ; 
and that it is believed they can be completed in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New 
York, and Boston, in time to make the change by the 1st of October, and per- 
haps sooner, if circumstances should render an earlier action necessary on the 
part of the government." 

Yes, sir, on the 18th of September this measure was decided on ; and 
on the 20th, it is announced to the people, that the deposits would be re- 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 583 

moved by the 1st of October, or sooner, if practicable ! Mr. Duane was 
continued in office till the 23d, on which day he was dismissed ; and be- 
tween the 23d and the 26th, on which latter day the mere clerical act of 
signing the order for removal was performed, Mr. Taney, by whom it was 
done, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, having conformed to the will 
of the president, against his own duty, which Mr. Duane would not do. 
Yes, sir, on the 20th went forth this proclamation, by authority, of the 
removal of the deposits, although Mr. Duane remained in office till the 
23d. On this point we have conclusive proof in a letter of the president 
to that gentleman, dated on the 23d, which letter, after all the gracious, 
friendly, and conciliating language of the cabinet paper, concludes in these 
terms : 

" I feel constrained to notify you, that your further services as Secretary of 
the Treasury are no longer required.'' 

Such, Mr. President, is the testimony on the one side to prove the truth 
of the proposition, that the removal of the deposits from the bank of the 
United States, was a measure determined on by the president himself- — 
determined on while the latter Secretary of the Treasury was still in office, 
and against the will of the secretary ; although Mr. Taney may have put 
his signature to the order on the 26th — a mere ministerial act, done in 
conformity with the previous decision of the president, that the removal 
should take place on or before the 1st of October. 

I now call the attention of the Senate to testimony of the other party ; 
I mean Mr. Duane. After giving a history of the circumstances which 
accompanied his appointment to office, and what passed antecedently to his 
removal, he proceeds to say : 

" Thus was I thrust into office ; thus was I thrust from office ; not because I 
had neglected any duty ; not because I had differed with him about the bank 
of the United States ; but because I refused, without further inquiry by Con- 
gress, to remove the deposits." 

Can testimony be more complete to establish the proposition T have ad- 
vanced ? And is it possible, after the testimony of the president on one 
side, and of his secretary on the other, that the former had decided that 
the deposits should be removed, and had removed the secretary because he 
would not do it, that any man can doubt that the removal was the presi- 
dent's own act ? — that it was done in accordance with his command ? 

And now, sir, having seen that the removal was made by the command 
and authority of the president, I shall proceed to inquire whether it was 
done in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States. 

I do not purpose at this time to go into the reasons alleged by the 
president or his secretary, except so far as those reasons contain an attempt 
to show that he possessed the requisite authority. Because if the presi- 
dent of the United States had no power to do this thing — if the Constitu- 



584 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

tion and laws, instead of authorizing it, required him to keep his hands off 
the treasury — it is useless to inquire into any reasons he may give for 
exercising a power which he did not possess. Sir, what power has the 
President of the United States over the treasury ? Is it in the charter 
establishing the bank ? The clause of the charter relating to the pub- 
lic deposits declares, 

'•' That the deposits of the money of the United States, in places in which the 
said bank and branches thereof may be established, shall be made in said bank 
or branches thereof, unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall at any time 
otherwise order and direct ; in which case the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
immediately lay before Congress, if in session, and if not, immediately after the 
commencement of the next session, the reasons of such order or direction." 

This is in strict consonance with the act creating the treasury depart- 
ment in 1789. The Secretary of the Treasury is by that act constituted the 
agent of Congress ; he is required to report to Congress, annually, the state 
of the finances, and his plans respecting them ; and if Congress, in either 
of its branches, shall require it, he is to report at any time on any par- 
ticular branch of the fiscal concerns of the country. He is the agent of 
Congress to watch over the safety of the national deposits ; and if, from 
any peculiar circumstances, the removal of them shall be required, he is to 
report the fact — to whom ? to the president ? No, sir ; he must report to 
Cono-ress, together with his reasons therefor. By the charter of the bank, 
the President of the United States is clothed with two powers respecting it, 
and two only. By one of its clauses he is authorized to nominate, and 
by and with the consent of the Senate, to appoint the government direc- 
tors, and to remove them ; by the other clause he is empowered to issue a 
scire facias when he shall apprehend that the charter of the institution has 
been violated. These, I say, are the only powers given him by the char- 
ter ; all others are denied to him, and are given to others. The bank is 
not bound to report the state of its affairs to him, but to the Secretary of 
the Treasury ; and it is thus to report whenever he shall call upon it for in- 
formation ; but when it becomes necessary to go further, a committee of 
Congress is authorized to examine the books of the bank, and to look into 
the whole state of its affairs, and to report, not to the president, but to 
Congress, who appointed them. The president, as I have said, is restricted 
to the two powers of appointing directors, and issuing a scire facias. 

And has the president any power over the treasury by the Constitution ? 
None, sir — none. The Constitution requires that no money shall be drawn 
from the treasury except by appropriation, thus placing it entirely under 
the control of Congress. But the president himself says — " upon him has 
been devolved, by the Constitution and the suffrages of the American peo- 
ple, the duty of superintending the operation of the executive departments 
of the government, and seeing that the laws are faithfully executed." Sir, 
the president, in another part of this same paper, refers to the same s-uf 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 585 

frages of the American people, as the source of some new powers over and 
above those in the Constitution, or at least as expressive of their approba- 
tion of the exercise of them. Sir, I differ from the president on this point ; 
and though it does not belong exactly in this place in the argument, I will 
add a remark or two on this idea. His re-election resulted from his pre- 
sumed merits generally, and the confidence and attachment of the people; 
and from the unworthiness of his competitor ; nor was it intended thereby 
to express their approbation of all the opinions he was known to hold. 
Sir, it can not be believed that the great State of Pennsylvania, for instance, 
which has so justly been denominated the key-stone of our federal arch, in 
voting again and again for the present chief magistrate, meant by that act 
to reverse her own opinions on the subject of domestic industry. Sir, the 
truth is, that the re-election of the president proves as little an approbation 
by the people of all the opinions he may hold, even if he had ever un- 
equivocally expressed what those opinions were (a thing which he never, so 
far as my knowledge extends, has yet done), as it would prove that if the 
president had a carbuncle or the king's evil, they meant, by re-electing him, 
to approve of his carbuncle. 

But the president says, that the duty "has been devolved upon him," to 
remove the deposits, " by the Constitution and the suffrages of the Amer- 
ican people." Sir, does he mean to say that these suffrages created of 
themselves a new source of power ? That he derived an authority from 
them which he did not hold as from any other source ? If he means that 
their suffrages made him the president of the United Sthtes, and that, as 
president, he may exercise every power pertaining to that office under the 
Constitution and the laws, there are none who can controvert it ; but then 
there could be no need to add the suffrages to the Constitution. But his 
language is, " the suffrages of the American people and the Constitution." 
Sir, I deny it. There is not a syllable in the Constitution which imposes 
any such duty upon him. There is nothing of any such thing ; no color 
to the idea. It is true, that by law, all the departments, with the excep- 
tion of the treasury, are placed under the general care of the president. 
He says this is done by the Constitution. The laws, however, have ap- 
pointed but three executive departments ; and it is true, that the secre- 
taries are often required by law to act in certain cases according to the 
directions of the president. So far it is admitted that they have been, by 
the law (not by the Constitution), placed under the direction of the pres- 
ident. Yet, even as to the State Department, there are duties devolving 
upon the secretary over which the president has no control ; and for the 
non-performance of which that officer is responsible, not to the president, 
but to the legislative tribunals, or to the courts of justice. This is no 
new opinion. The Supreme Court, in the case of Marbury and Madison, 
expressed it in the following terms : 

" By the Constitution of the United States, the president is invested with 
certain important political powers, in the exercise of which, he is to use his own 



586 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

discretion, and is accountable only to his country in his political character, and to 
his own conscience. To aid him in the performance of these duties, he is 
authorized to appoint certain officers, who act by his authority, and in conform- 
ity to his orders. 

" In such cases, their acts are his acts ; and whatever opinion may be enter- 
tained of the manner in which executive discretion may be used, still there 
exists, and can exist, no power to control that discretion. The subjects are 
political. They respect the nation, not individual rights, and being intrusted to 
the executive, the decision of the executive is conclusive. The application of 
this remark will be perceived by adverting to the act of Congress for establish- 
ing the department of foreign affairs. This officer, as his duties were prescribed 
by that act, is to conform precisely to the will of the president. He is the mere 
organ by whom that will is communicated. The acts of such an officer, as an 
officer, can never be examined by the courts. 

" But when the Legislature proceeds to impose on that officer other duties ; 
when he is directed peremptorily to perform certain acts (that is, when he is not 
placed under the direction of the president), when the rights of individuals are 
dependent on the performance of those acts, he is so far the officer of the law ; 
is amenable to the laws for his conduct ; and can not at his discretion sport 
away the vested rights of others. 

" The conclusion from this reasoning is, that where the heads of departments 
are the political or confidential agents of the executive, merely to execute the 
will of the president, or rather to act in cases in which the executive possesses 
a constitutional or legal discretion, nothing can be more perfectly clear than that 
their acts are only politically examinable. But where a specific duty is assigned 
by law, and individual rights depend upon the performance of that duty, it 
seems equally clear that the individual who considers himself injured has a right 
to resort to the laws of his country for a remedy." 

Though the president is mistaken in his assertion, that the Constitution 
devolves upon the president the superintendence of the departments, there 
is one clause of that instrument which he has very correctly quoted, and 
which makes it his duty to "see that the laws are faithfully executed," as 
it is mine now to examine what authority he obtains by this clause in the 
case before us. Under it, the most enormous pretensions have been set up 
for the president. 

It has been contended, that if a law shall pass which the president does 
not conceive to be in conformity with the Constitution, he is not bound to 
execute it ; and if a treaty shall have been made, which, in his opinion, 
has been unconstitutional in its stipulations, he is not bound to enforce 
them. And it necessarily follows, that, if the courts of justice shall give 
a decision, which he shall in like manner deem repugnant to the Consti- 
tution, he is not expected or bound to execute that law. Sir, let us 
look a little into this principle, and trace it out into some of its conse- 
quences. 

One of the most important acts performed at the department is, to settle 
those very large accounts which individuals have with the government ; 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 587 

accounts amounting to millions of dollars ; to settle them, an auditor and 
a comptroller have been appointed by law, whose official acts may aft'ect, 
to the extent of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the property of indi- 
vidual contractors. If the pretensions of the president are well founded, his 
power goes further than he has exerted it. He may go into the office of 
the auditor, or the office of the comptroller, and may say to him, Sir, Mr. 
A. B. has an account under settlement in this office, one item of which, 
objected to by you, T consider to be in accordance with the Constitution ; 
pass that account and send it to the auditor ; and he may then go to the 
auditor and hold similar lansTiasre. If the clause of the Constitution is to 
be expounded as is contended for, it amounts to a complete absorption of 
all the powers of government in the person of the executive. Sir, when a 
doctrine like this shall be admitted as orthodox, when it shall be acquiesced 
in by the people of this country, our government will have become a simple 
machine enough. The will of the president will be the whole of it. 
There will be hut one bed, and that will be the bed of Procrustes ; but 
one will, the will of the president. All the departments, and all subordi- 
nate functionaries of government, great or small, must submit to that will ; 
and if they do not, then the president will have failed to " see that the 
laws are faithfully executed." 

Sir, such an extravagant and enormous pretension as this must be set 
alongside of its exploded compeer, the pretension that Congress has the 
power of passing any and all laws which it may suppose conducive to " the 
general welfare." 

Let me, in a few words, present to the Senate what are my own views 
as to the structure of this government. I hold that no powers can legiti- 
mately be exercised under it but such as are expressly delegated, and those 
which are necessary to carry these into effect. Sir, the executive power, 
as existing in this government, is not to be traced to the notions of Montes- 
quieu, or of any other writer of that class, in the abstract nature of the 
executive power. Neither is the legislative nor the judicial power to be 
decided by any such reformer. These several powers with us, whatever 
they may be elsewhere, are just what the Constitution has made them, and 
nothing more. And as to the general clauses in which reference is made 
to either, they are to be controlled and interpreted by those where these 
several powers are specially delegated, otherwise the executive will become 
a great vortex that must end in swallowing up all the rest. Nor will the 
judicial power be any longer restrained by the restraining clauses in the 
Constitution, which relate to its exercise. 

What then, it will be asked, does this clause, that the president shall see 
that the laws are faithfully executed, mean ? Sir, it means nothing more 
nor less than this, that if resistance is made to the laws, he shall take care 
that resistance shall cease. Congress, by the first article of the eighth section 
of the Constitution, is required to provide for calling out the militia to ex- 
ecute the laws in case of resistance. Sir, it might as well be contended 



5S8 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

under that clause, that Congress have the power of determining what are, 
and what are not, the laws of the land. Congress has the power of calling 
out the military ; well, sir, what is the president, by the Constitution ? He 
is commander of the army and navy of the United States, and of the 
militia when called out into actual service. "When, then, we are here told 
that he is clothed with the whole physical power of the nation, and when 
we are afterward told that he must take care that the laws are faithfully 
executed, is it possible that any man can be so lost to the love of liberty, 
as not to admit that this goes no further than to remove any resistance 
which may be made to the execution of the laws ? We have established a 
system in which power has been carefully divided among different depart- 
ments of the government. And we have been told a thousand times that 
this division is indispensable as a safeguard to civil liberty. We have 
designated the departments, and have established in each officers to exam- 
ine the powers belonging to each. The president, it is true, presides over 
the whole ; his eye surveys the whole extent of the system in all its move- 
ments. But has he power to enter into the courts, for example, and tell 
them what is to be done ? Or may he come here, and tell us the same ? 
Or when we have made a law, can he withhold the power necessary to its 
practical effect? He moves, it is true, in a high, a glorious sphere. It is 
his to watch over the whole with a paternal eye ; and, when any one wheel 
of the vast machine is for a time interrupted by the occurrence of invasion 
or rebellion, it is his care to propel its movements, and to furnish it with 
the requisite means of performing its appropriate duty in its own place. 

That this is the true interpretation of the constitutional clause to which 
I have alluded, is inferred from the total silence of all cotemporaneous 
expositors of that instrument on the subject. I have myself (and when it 
was not in my power personally, have caused others to aid me), made 
researches into the numbers of the Federalist, the debates in the Virginia 
convention, and in the conventions of other States, as -well as all other 
sources of information to which I could obtain access, and I have not, in a 
solitary instance, found the slightest color for the claims set up in these 
most extraordinary times, for the president, that he has authority to afford 
or withhold at pleasure the means of enforcing the laws, and to superintend 
and control an officer charged with a specific duty, made by the law ex- 
clusively his. But, sir, I have found some authorities which strongly 
militate against any such claim. If the doctrine be indeed true, then it is 
most evident that there is no longer any other control over our affairs than 
that exerted by the president. If it be true, that when a duty is by law 
specifically assigned to a particular officer, the president may go into his 
office and control him in the manner of performing it, then is it most 
manifest that all barriers for the safety of the treasury are gone. Sir, it is 
that union of the purse and the sword, in the hand of one man, which 
constitutes the best definition of tyranny which our language can give. 

The charter of the bank of the United States requires that the public 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 589 

deposits be made in its vaults. It also gives the Secretary of the Treasury 
power to remove them — and why ? The secretary is at the head of the 
finances of the government. Weekly reports are made by the bank to 
bim. He is to report to Congress annually ; and to either House wh< n- 
ever he should be called upon. He is the sentinel of Congre-s — the agent 
of Congress — the representative of Congress. Congress has prescribed 
and has defined his duties. He is required to report to them, not to the 
president. He is put there by us, as our representative ; he is required to 
remove the deposits when they shall be in danger, and we not in session ; 
but when he does this, he is required to report to Congress the fact, with 
his reasons for it. Now, sir, if, when an officer of government is thus 
specifically assigned his duty, if he is to report his official acts on his 
responsibility to Congress ; if, in a case where no power whatever is given 
to the president, the president may go and say to that officer, " Go and do 
as I bid you, or you shall be removed from office ;" let me ask, whether 
the danger apprehended by that eloquent man has not already been 
realized ? 

But, sir, let me suppose that I am mistaken in my construction of the 
Constitution ; and let me suppose that the president has, as is contended, 
power to see every particular law carried into effect ; what, then, was it his 
duty to do in the present case under the clause thus interpreted \ The law 
authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to remove the deposits on his 
responsibility to Congress. Now, if the president has power to see this, 
like other laws, faithfully executed, then, surely, the law exacted of him 
that he should see that the secretary was allowed to exercise his free, un- 
biased, uncontrolled judgment in removing or not removing them. That 
was the execution of the law. Congress had not said that the Secretary 
of War, or the Secretary of State, might remove the public deposits from 
the treasury. 

The president has no right to go to the Secretary of War and ask him 
what the Secretary of the Treasury ought to do. He might as well have 
consulted the Secretary of the Treasury about a contemplated movement 
of the army, as to ask the Secretary of War about the disposition of the 
public moneys. It was not to the president, and all his secretaries com- 
bined, that the power was given to alter the disposition of the deposits in 
the bank. It was to the secretary alone, exclusive of the president, and all 
the other officers of government. And according to gentlemen's own 
showing, by their construction of the clause, the secretrary ought to have 
been left to his own unbiased determination, uncontrolled by the president, 
or any body else. 

I would thank the Secretary of the Senate to get me the sedition law. 
It is not very certain how soon we may be called to act upon it. 

Now, sir, let us trace some of the other sources of the exercise of this 
power, or motives for it, or by whatever name they are to be called. He 
says to Mr. Duane : 



590 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

" The president repeats, that he begs the cabinet to consider the proposed 
measure as his own, in the support of which he shall require no one of them to 
make a sacrifice of opinion or principle. Its responsibility has been assumed, 
after the most mature deliberation and reflection, as necessary to preserve the 
morals of the people, the freedom of the press, and the purity of the elective 
franchise." 

The morals of the people ! "What part of the Constitution has given 
to the president any power over " the morals of the people ?" None. It 
does not give such power even over religion, the presiding and genial in- 
fluence over every true system of morals. No, sir, it gives him no such 
power. 

And what is the next step ? To-day he claims a power as necessary to 
the morals of the people ; to-morrow he will claim another, as still more 
indispensable to our religion. And the president might in this case as 
well have said that he went into the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
and controlled his free exercise of his authority as secretary, because it 
was necessary to preserve " the religion of the people !" I ask for the 
authority. Will any one of those gentlemen here, who consider them- 
selves as the vindicators of the executive, point me to any clause of the 
Constitution which gives to the present President of the United States any 
power to preserve h the morals of the people ?" 

But " the freedom of the press," it seems, was another motive. Sir, I 
am not surprised that the present Secretary of the Treasury should feel a 
desire to revive this power over the press. He, I think, was a member of 
that party which passed the sedition law, under precisely the same pretext. 
I recollect it was said, that this bank, this monster of tyranny, was taking 
into its pay a countless number of papers, and by this means was destroy- 
ing the fair fame of the president aud his secretary, and all that sort of 
thing. Sir, it is sometimes useful to refer back to those old things— to the 
notions and the motives which induced men in former times to do certain 
acts which may not be altogether unlike some others in our own time. 

The famous sedition act was passed, sir, in 1789 ; and it contained, among 
others, the following provision : 

" Section 2. That if any person shall write, print, utter, or publish, or shall 
cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, or published, or shall, knowingly 
and willingly, assist or aid in Aviiting, printing, uttering, or publishing, any false, 
scandalous, and malicious writing or writings, against the government of the 
United States, or either House of the Congress of the United States, or the 
President of the United States, with intent to defame the said government, or 
either House of the said Congress, or the said president, or to bring them, or 
either of them, into contempt or disrepute ; or to excite against them, or either 
of them, the hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir up se- 
dition within the United States ; or to excite any unlawful combinations therein, 
for opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, done in pursuance of any such law, or of the powers 



ON THE EEMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 591 

in him vested by the Constitution of the United States ; or to resist, oppose, or 
defeat, any such law or act ; or to aid, encourage, or abet, any hostile designs 
of any foreign nation, against the United States, their people, or government, 
then such person, being thereof convicted before any court of the United States 
having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thou- 
sand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years." 

We have now, sir, in the reasons for the removal of the government 
deposits, the same motives avowed and acted upon. The abuse of the 
government, bringing into disrepute, using contemptuous language to per- 
sons high in authority, constituted the motives for passing the sedition 
law ; and what have we now but a repetition of the same complaints of 
abuses, disrespect, and so forth. As it is now, so it was then ; for, says 
the next section of the same sedition act : 

" That if any person shall be prosecuted, under this act, for the writing or 
publishing of any libel aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the defendant, upon the 
trial of the cause, to give in evidence in his defense, the truth of the matter 
contained in the publication charged as a libel. And the jury who shall try the 
cause, shall have a right to determine the law and the fact, under the direc- 
tion of the court, as in other cases." 

It is only for the sake of the truth, said they who favored the passage 
of that law — for the sake of justice ; as it is now said that it was neces- 
sary to remove the deposits, in order to preserve the purity of the press. 
That 's all, sir. But there is one part of this assumption of power by 
the president much more tyrannical than that act. Under that law, the 
offending party was to have a trial by jury ; the benefit of witnesses and 
of counsel : and the right to have the truth of his alleged libels examined. 
But what is the case now under consideration '? Why, sir, the president 
takes the whole matter iu his own hands ; he is at once the judge, the 
jury, and the executioner of the sentence, and utterly deprives the accused 
party of the opportunity of showing that the imputed libel is no libel at 
all, but founded in the clearest truth. 

But " the purity of the elective franchise," also, the president has very 
much at heart. And here, again, I ask what part of the Constitution gives 
him any power over that " franchise ?" Look, sir, at the nature of the 
exercise of this power ! If it was really necessary that steps should be 
taken to preserve the purity of the press or the freedom of elections, what 
ought the president to have done ? Taken the matter into his own hands ? 
No, sir ; it was his duty to recommend to Congress the passage of laws 
for the purpose, under suitable sanctions ; laws which the courts of the 
United States would execute. We could not have been worse off under 
such laws, (however exceptionable they might be), than we are now. We 
could then, sir, have reviewed the laws, and seen whether Congress or the 
president had properly any power over this matter ; or whether the article 
of the Constitution which forbids that the press shall be touched, and de- 



592 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

clares that religion shall be sacred from all the powers of legislation, 
applied in the case or not. This the president has undertaken to do of 
himself, without the shadow of authority, either in the Constitution or the 
laws. 

Suppose, sir, that this contumacious institution, which committed the 
great sin, in 1829, of not appointing a new president to a certain one of 
its branches — suppose that the bank should go on and vindicate itself 
against the calumnies poured out upon it — that it should continue to stand 
upon its defense; how inefficient will have been the exercise of power by 
the president ! How inadequate to the end he had in view, of preserving 
the press from being made use of to defend the bank ! Why, sir, if we 
had had the power, and the president had come to us, we could have laid 
Mr. Nicholas Biddle by the heels, if he should have undertaken to publish 
another report of General Smith or Mr. Duffie, or another speech of the 
eloquent gentleman near me (Mr. Webster), or any other such libels, 
tending to bring the president or his administration into disrepute. But 
the President of the United States, who thought he had the bank in his 
power, who thought he could stop it, who was induced to believe, by that 
"influence behiud the throne, greater than itself," that he could breakdown 
the bank at a word, has only shown this want of power over the press, by 
his attempt to exercise it in the manner he has done. The bank has 
avowed and openly declared its purpose to defend itself on all suitable oc- 
casions. And, what is still more provoking, instead of being a bankrupt, 
as was expected, with its doors closed, and its vaults inaccessible, it has 
now, it seems, got more money than it knows what to do with ; and this 
greatest of misers and hoarders, cruelly refuses to let out a dollar of its 
ten millions of specie, to relieve the sufferings of the banks to which the 
government deposits have been transferred. 

Sir, the President of the United States had nothing to do with the morals 
of the community. No, sir ; for the preservation of our morals we are re- 
sponsible to God, and I trust that that responsibility will ever remain to 
Him and His mercy alone. Neither had the president any thing to do 
with the freedom of the press. The power over it is denied, even to Con- 
gress, by the people. It was said, by one of those few able men and bright 
luminaries, whom Providence has yet spared to us, in answer to complaints 
by a foreign minister, against the freedom with which the American press 
treated certain French functionaries, that the press was one of those con- 
cerns which admitted of no regulation by the government ; that its abuses 
must be tolerated, lest its freedom should be abridged. Such, sir, is the 
freedom of the press, as recognized by our Constitution, and so it has been 
respected ever since the repeal of the obnoxious act which I have already 
quoted, until the detestable principles of that law have been reasserted by 
the president, in his assumption of a power, in nowise belonging to his 
office, of preserving the purity of the press. 

Such, sir, are the powers on which the president relies to justify his seiz- 



ON THE KEMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 593 

ure of the treasury of the United States. I have examined them one by 
one ; and they all fail, utterly fail, to bear out the act. We are irresistibly 
brought to the conclusion, that the removal of the public money from the 
bank of the United States has been effected by the displacement from the 
head of the treasury department of one who would not remove them, and 
putting in his stead another person, who would ; and, secondly, that the 
president has no color of authority in the Constitution or the laws for the 
act which he has undertaken to perform. 

Let us now, for a few moments, examine the consequences which may 
ensue from the exercise of this enormous power. If the president has 
authority, in a case in which the law has assigned a specific duty exclu- 
sively to a designated officer, to control the exercise of discretion by that 
officer, he has a right to interfere in every other case, and remove every 
one from office who hesitates to do his bidding, against his judgment of 
his own duty. This, surely, is a logical deduction not to be resisted. 
Well, then, how stands the matter ? Recapitulating the provisions of the 
law prescribing how money should be drawn from the treasury and the 
deduction above stated, what is to prevent the president from going to the 
comptroller, and, if he will not countersign a warrant which he has found 
an accommodating secretary to sign, turning him out for another ; then 
going to the register, and doing the same ; and then to the treasurer and 
commanding him to pay over the money expressed in the warrant, or sub- 
ject himself to expulsion. 

Where is the security against such conduct on the part of the president \ 
Where the boundary to this tremendous authority, which he has under- 
taken to exercise ? Sir, every barrier around the treasury is broken down. 
From the moment that the president said, " I make this measure my own, I 
take upon myself the responsibility," from that moment the public treasury 
might as well have been at the Hermitage as at this place. Sir, the meas- 
ure adopted by the president is without precedent — in our day at least. 
There is, indeed, a precedent on record, but you must go down to the 
Christian era for it. It will be recollected, by those who are conversant 
with ancient history, that after Pompey was compelled to retire to Brun- 
dusium, Caesar, who had been anxious to give him battle, returned to 
Rome, "having reduced Italy (says the historian), in sixty days (the ex- 
act period, sir, between the removal of the deposits, and the meeting of 
Congress, without the usual allowance of three days' grace), without 
bloodshed." The historian goes on : "finding the city in a more settled 
condition than he expected, and many senators there, he addresses them in 
a mild and gracious manner (as the president addressed his late Secretary 
of the Treasury), and desired them to send deputies to Pompey with an 
offer of honorable terms of peace. As Metellus, the tribune, opposed his tak- 
ing money out of the public treasury, and cited some laws against it (such, 
sir, I suppose, as I have endeavored to cite on this occasion), Cassar said, 
' arms and laws do not flourish together. If you are not pleased with what 

38 



594 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

I am about, you have only to withdraw. (Leave the office, Mr. Duane !) 
War, indeed, will not tolerate much liberty of speech. When I say this, I 
am renouncing my own right ; for you, and all those whom I have found ex- 
citing a spirit of faction against me, are at my disposal. Having said 
this, he approached the doors of the treasury, and as the keys were 
not produced, he sent for workmen to break them open. Metellus again 
opposed him, and gained credit with some for his firmness ; but Caesar, 
with an elevated voice, threatened to put him to death, if he gave any fur- 
ther trouble. ' And you know very well, young man,' said he, ' that this is 
harder for me to say than to do.' Metellus, terrified by the measure, re- 
tired, and Csesar was afterward easily and readily supplied with every 
tiling necessary for the war." 

And where now, sir, is the public treasury ? Who can tell ? It is cer- 
tainly without a local habitation, if it be not without a name. And where 
is the money of the people of the United States ? Floating about in 
treasury drafts or checks to the amount of millions, placed in the hands of 
tottering banks, to enable them to pay their own debts, instead of being 
appropriated to the service of the people. These checks are scattered to 
the winds by the treasurer of the United States, who is required by law to 
let out money from the treasury, on warrants signed by the Secretary of 
the Treasury, countersigned, registered, and so forth, and not otherwise. 

[Mr. Clay here referred to a correspondence, which he quoted, between the 
treasurer and the officers of the bank, complaining of these checks drawn with- 
out proper notice, and so forth, in which the treasurer says they were only 
Issued to be used in certain contingences and so forth.] 

Thus, sir, the people's money is put into a bank here, and a bank there, 
in regard to the solvency of which we know nothing, and it is placed there 
to be used in the event of certain contingences — contingences of which 
neither the treasurer nor the secretary have yet deigned to furnish us any 
account. 

Where was the oath of office of the treasurer, when he ventured thus 
to sport with the people's money ? Where w r as the Constitution, which 
forbids money to be drawn from the treasury without appropriation by 
law ? Where was the treasurer's bond, when he thus cast about people's 
money ? Sir, his bond is forfeited. I do not pretend to any great knowl- 
edge of the law, but give me an intelligent and unpacked jury, and I will 
undertake to prove to him that he has forfeited the penalty of his bond. 

Mr. President, the people of the United States are indebted to the pres 
ident for the boldness of this movement ; and as one among the humblest 
of them, I profess my obligations to him. lie has told the Senate, in his 
message refusing an official copy of his cabinet paper, that it has been 
published for the information of the people. As a pail of the people, the 
Senate, if not in their official character, have a right to its use. In that 
extraordinary paper, he has proclaimed, that the measure is his own ; and 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 595 

that he has taken upon himself the responsibility of it. In plain English, 
he has proclaimed an open, palpable, and daring usurpation ! 

For more than fifteen years, Mr. President, I have been struggling to 
avoid the present state of things. I thought I perceived in some proceed- 
ings, during the conduct of the Seminole war, a spirit of defiance to the 
Constitution and to all law. With what sincerity and truth, with what 
earnestness and devotion to civil liberty, I have struggled, the searcher of 
all human hearts best knows. With what fortune, the bleeding Constitu- 
tion of my country now fatally attests. 

I have, nevertheless, persevered ; and under every discouragement 
during the short time that I expect to remain in the public councils I will 
persevere. And if a bountiful Providence would allow an unworthy sinner 
to approach the throne of grace, I would beseech Him, as the greatest 
favor He could grant to me here below, to spare me until I live to behold 
the peojile rising in their majesty, with a peaceful and constitutional exer- 
cise of their power, to expel the Goths from Rome; to rescue the public 
treasury from pillage, to preserve the Constitution of the United States ; 
to uphold the Union against the danger of the concentration and consoli- 
dation of all power in the hands of the executive ; and to sustain the liber- 
ties of the people of this country against the imminent perils to which they 
now stand exposed. 

[Here, Mr. Clay, who was understood to have gone through the first part of 
his speech only, gave way, and Mr. Ewing of Ohio moved that the further con- 
sideration of the subject be postponed until Monday next ; which was ordered 
accordingly. And then the Senate adjourned to that day. December 30th, 
Mr. Clay resumed his speech]. 

Before I proceed to a consideration of the report of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, and the second resolution, I wish to anticipate and answer an ob- 
jection, which may be made to the adoption of the first. It may be 
urged, that the Senate, being, in a certain contingency, a court of im- 
peachment, ought not to prejudge a question which it may be called upon 
to decide judicially. But by the Constitution the Senate has three charac- 
ters, legislative, executive, and judicial. Its ordinary, and by far its most 
important character, is that of its being a component part of the legislative 
department. Only three or four cases, since the establishment of the gov- 
ernment (that is, during a period of nearly half a century) have occurred, 
in which it was necessary that the Senate should act as a judicial tribunal, 
the least important of all its characters. Now it would be most strange if, 
when its constitutional powers were assailed, it could not assert and vindi- 
cate them, because, by possibility, it might be required to act as a court of 
justice. The first resolution asserts, only, that the president has assumed 
the exercise of a power over the public treasury not granted by the Con- 
stitution and laws. It is silent as to motive ; and without the quo animo — 
the deliberate purpose of usurpation — the president would not be liable to 



596 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

impeachment. But if a concurrence of all the elements be necessary to 
make out a charge of willful violation of the Constitution, docs any one be- 
lieve that the president will now be impeached ? And shall we silently sit 
by and see ourselves stripped of one of the most essential of our legisla- 
tive powers, and the exercise of it assumed by the president, to which it is 
not delegated, without effort to maintain it, because, against all human 
probability, he may be hereafter impeached ? 

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the first paragraph, com- 
mences with a misstatement of the fact. He says, " I have directed" that 
the deposits of the money of the United States shall not be made in (he 
bank of the United States. If this assertion is regarded in any other than 
a mere formal sense, it is not true. The secretary may have been the in- 
strument, the clerk, the automaton, in whose name the order was issued ; 
but the measure was that of the president, by whose authority or com- 
mand the order was given ; and of this we have the highest and most 
authentic evidence. The president has told the world that the measure 
was his own, and that he took it upon his own responsibility. And he has 
exonerated his cabinet from all responsibility about it. The secretary ought 
to have frankly disclosed all the circumstances of the case, and told the 
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If he had done so, he 
would have informed Congress, that the removal had been decided by the 
president on the 18th of September last ; that it had been announced to 
the public on the 20th; and that Mr. Duane remained in office until the 
23d. He would have informed Congress, that this important measure was 
decided before he entered into his new office, and was the cause of his ap- 
pointment. Yes, sir, the present secretary stood by, a witness to the strug- 
gle in the miud of his predecessor, between his attachment to the presi- 
dent and his duty to the country ; saw him dismissed from office, because 
he would not violate his conscientious obligations, and came into his place, 
to do what he could not, honorably, and would not perform. A son of 
one of the fathers of democracy, by an administration professing to be 
democratic, was expelled from office, and his place supplied by a gentle- 
man, who, throughout his whole career, has been uniformly opposed to 
democracy ! — a gentleman who, at another epoch of the republic, when it 
was threatened with civil war, and a dissolution of the Union, voted 
(although a resident of a slave State), in the Legislature of Maryland, 
ao-ainst the admission of Missouri into the Union without a restriction in- 
compatible with ber rights as a member of the confederacy ! Mr. Duane 
was dismissed because the solemn convictions of his duty would not allow 
him to conform to the president's will ; because his logic did not bring his 
mind to the same conclusions with those of the logic of a venerable old 
gentleman, inhabiting a white house not distant from the capitol ; because 
his watch (here Mr. Clay held up bis own) did not keep time with that 
of the president. He was dismissed under that detestable system of pro- 
scription for opinion's sake, which has finally dared to intrude itself into 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 597 

the halls of Congress — a system under which three unoffending clerks, the 
husbands of wives, the fathers of families, dependent on them for support, 
without the slightest imputation of delinquency, have been recently un- 
ceremoniously discharged, and driven out to beggary, by a man, himself 
the substitute of a meritorious officer, who has not been iu this city a period 
equal to one monthly revolutiou of the moon ! I tell our secretary, (said 
Mr. Clay, raising his voice) that, if he touch a single hair of the head of 
any one of the clerks of the Senate (I am sure he is not disposed to do it), 
on account of his opinions, political or religious, if no other member of 
the Senate does it, I will instantly submit a resolution for his own dismis- 
sion. 

The secretary ought to have communicated all these things ; he ought 
to have stated that the cabinet was divided two and two, and one of the 
members equally divided with himself on the question, willing to be put 
into either scale. He ought to have given a full account of this, the most 
important act of executive authority since the origin of the government ; 
he should have stated with what unsullied honor his predecessor retired 
from office, and on what degrading conditions he accepted his vacant place. 
When a momentous proceeding like this, varying the constitutional distri- 
bution of the powers of the legislative and executive departments, was 
resolved on, the ministers against whose advice it was determined, should 
have resigned their stations. No ministers of any monarch in Europe, 
under similar circumstances, would have retained the seals of office. And 
if, as nobody doubts, there is a cabal behind the curtain, without character 
and without responsibility, feeding the passions, stimulating the prejudices, 
and molding the actions of the incumbent of the presidential office, it 
was an additional reason for their resignations. There is not a maitre 
dliotel in Christendom, who, if the scullions were put into command in the 
parlor and dining-room, would not scorn to hold his place, and fling it up 
in disgust with indiguant pride ! 

I shall examine the report before us, first, as to the power of the secre- 
tary over the deposits ; secondly, his reasons for the exercise of it ; and, 
thirdly, the manner of its exercise. 

First. The secretary asserts that the power of removal is exclusively re- 
served to him ; that it is absolute and unconditional, so far as the iuterests 
of the bank are concerned ; that it is not restricted to any particular con- 
tingences ; that the reservation of the power to the Secretary of the 
Treasury exclusively, is a part of the compact ; that he may exercise it, if 
the public convenience or interest would in any degree be promoted ; that 
this exclusive power, thus reserved, is so absolute, that the secretary is not 
restrained by the considerations that the public deposits in the bank are 
perfectly safe ; that the bank promptly meets all demands upon it ; and 
that it faithfully performs all its duties ; and that the power of Congress, on 
the contrary, is so totally excluded, that it could not, without a breach 
of the compact, order the deposits to be changed, even if Congress 



598 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

were satisfied that they were not safe, or should be convinced that the 
interests of the people of the United States imperiously demanded the 
removal. 

Such is the statement which this unassuming secretary makes of his 
own authority. He expands his own power to the most extravagant 
dimensions ; and he undertakes to circumscribe that of Congress in the 
narrowest and most restricted limits ! Who would have expected that, 
after having so confidently maintained for himself such absolute, exclusive, 
unqualified, and uncontrollable power, he would have let in any body else 
to share with him its exercise ? Yet he says, " as the Secretary of the 
Treasury presides over one of the executive departments of the govern- 
ment, and his power over this subject forms a part of the executive duties 
of his office, the manner in which it is exercised must be subject to the 
supervision of the officer" (meaning the president, whose official name his 
modesty would not allow him to pronounce) " to whom the Constitution 
has confided the whole executive power, and has required to take care that 
the laws be faithfully executed." If the clause in the compact exclusively 
vests the power of removal in the Secretary of the Treasury, what has the 
president to do with it ? What part of the charter conveys to him any 
power ? If, as the secretary contends, the clause of removal, being part 
of the compact, restricts its exercise to the secretary, to the entire exclusion 
of Congress, how does it embrace the president ? especially since both the 
president and secretary conceive, that " the power over the place of deposit 
for the public money would seem properly to belong to the legislative de- 
partment of the government V If the secretary be correct in asserting 
that the power of removal is confined to the Secretary of the Treasury, 
then Mr. Duane, while in office, possessed it ; and his dismission, because 
he would not exercise a power which belonged to him exclusively, was it- 
self a violation of the charter. 

But by what authority does the secretary assert that the treasury depart- 
ment is one of the executive departments of the government ? He has 
none in the act which creates the department ; he has none in the Con- 
stitution. The treasury department is placed by law on a different footing 
from all the other departments, wliich are, in the acts creating them, 
denominated executive, and placed under the direction of the president. 
The treasury department, on the contrary, is organized on totally different 
principles. Except the appointment of the officers, with the co-operation 
of the Senate, and the power which is exercised of removing them, the 
president has neither by the Constitution nor the law creating the depart- 
ment, any thing to do with it. The secretary's reports and responsibility 
are directly to Congress. The whole scheme of the department is one of 
checks, each officer acting as a control upon his associates. The secretary 
is required by the law to report not to the president, but directly to Con- 
gress. Either House may require any report from him, or command his 
personal attendance before it. It is not, therefore, true, that the treasury 



ON THE KEMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 599 

is one of the executive departments, subject to the supervision of the pres- 
ident. And the inference drawn from that erroneous assumption entirely 
fails. The secretary appeal's to have no precise ideas either of the Con- 
stitution or duties of the departments over which he presides. He says : 

" The treasury department being intrusted with the administration of the 
finances of the country, it was always the duty of the secretary, in the ab- 
sence of any legislative provision on the subject, to take care that the public 
money was deposited in safe-keeping, in the hand of faithful agents," and so 
forth. 

The premises of the secretary are only partially correct, and the con- 
clusion is directly repugnant to law. It never was the duty of the secre- 
tary to take care that the public money was deposited in safe keeping in 
the hands of faithful agents, and so forth. That duty is expressly, by the 
act organizing the department, assigned to the treasurer of the United 
States, who is placed under oath, and under bond, with a large penalty, 
not to issue a dollar out of the public treasury, but in virtue of warrants 
granted in pursuance of acts of appropriation, " and not otherwise." When 
the secretary treats of the power of the president, he puts on corsets and 
prostrates himself before the executive, in the most graceful, courteous, and 
lady-like form ; but when he treats of that of Congress, and of the treas- 
urer, he swells and expands himself, and flirts about, with all the airs of 
high authority. 

But I can not assent to the secretary's interpretation of his power of 
removal, contained in the charter. Congress has not given up its control 
over the treasury, or the public deposits, to either the secretary or the ex- 
ecutive. Congress could not have done so without a treacherous renunciation 
of its constitutional powers, and a faithless abandonment of its duties. And 
now let us see what is the true state of the matter. Congress has reserved 
to itself, exclusively, the right to judge of the reasons for removal of the 
deposits, by requiring the report of them to be made to it; and, con- 
sequently, the power to ratify or invalidate the act. The Secretary of the 
Treasury is the fiscal sentinel of Congress, to whom the bank makes weekly 
reports, and who is presumed constantly to be well acquainted with its 
actual condition. He may, consequently, discover the urgent necessity of 
prompt action, to save the public treasure, before it is known to Congress, 
and when it is not in session. But he is immediately to report — to whom \ 
To the executive ? No, to Congress. For what purpose ? That Congress 
may sanction or disapprove the act. 

The power of removal is a reservation for the benefit of the people, not 
of the bank. It may be waived. Congress, being a legislative party to 
the compact, did not thereby deprive itself of ordinary powers of legisla- 
tion. It can not, without a breach of the national faith, repeal privileges or 
stipulations intended for the benefit of the bank. But it may repeal, 
modify, or waive the exercise altogether, of those parts of the charier 



600 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

which were intended exclusively for the public. Could not Congress repeal 
altogether the clause of removal ? Such a repeal would not injure, but 
add to, the security of the bank. Could not Congress modify the clause, 
by revoking the agency of the Secretary of the Treasury, and substituting 
that of the treasurer, or any other officer of government ? Could not 
Congress, at any time during the twenty years' duration of the charter, 
abolish altogether the office of Secretary of the Treasury, and assign all 
his present duties to some newly-constituted department ? The right and 
the security of the bank do not consist in the form of the agency, nor in 
the name of the agent, but in this : that, whatever may be its form or his 
denomination, the removal shall only be made upon urgent and satisfactory 
reasons. The power of supplemental legislation was exercised by Congress 
both under the new and old bank. Three years after the establishment of 
the existing bank, an act passed, better to regulate the election of directors, 
and to punish any one who should attempt, by bribes, or presents in any 
form, to influence the operation of the institution. 

The denial of the secretary, to Congress, of the power to remove the 
deposits, under any circumstances, is most extraordinary. Why, sir, sup- 
pose a corrupt collusion between the secretary and the bank to divide the 
spoils of the treasury ? Suppose a total non-fulfillment of all the stipula- 
tions on the part of the bank? Is Congress to remain bound and tied, 
while the bank should be free from all the obligations of the charter ? 
The obligation of one party to observe faithfully his stipulations in a con- 
tract, rests upon the corresponding obligation of the other party to observe 
his stipulations. If one party is released, both are free. If one party fails 
to comply with his contract, that releases the other. This is the funda- 
mental principle of all contracts, applicable to treaties, charters, and private 
agreements. If it were a mere private agreement, and one party who had 
bound himself to deposit, from time to time, his money with the other, to 
be redrawn at his pleasure, saw that it was wasting and squandered away, 
he would have a clear right to discontinue the deposits. It is true that a 
party has no right to excuse himself from the fulfillment of his contract, 
by imputing a breach to the other which has never been made. And it 
is fortunate for the peace and justice of society, that neither party to any 
contract, whether public or private, can decide conclusively the question of 
fulfillment by the other, but must always act under subjection, for the ulti- 
mate decision, in case of controversy, of an impartial arbiter, provided in 
the judicial tribunals of civilized communities. 

As to the absolute, unconditional, and exclusive power which the secre 
tary claims to be vested in himself, it is in direct hostility to the princi- 
ples of our government, and adverse to the genius of all free institutions. 
The secretary was made, by the charter, the mere representative or agent 
of Congress. Its temporary substitute, acting in subordination to it, and 
bound, whenever he did act, to report to his principal his reasons, that they 
might be judged of and sanctioned, or overruled. Is it not absurd to say 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 601 

that the agent can possess more power than the principal ? The power of 
revocation is incident to all agency, unless, in express terms, by the instru- 
ment creating it, a different provision is made. The powers, whether of the 
principal or the agent, in relation to any contract, must be expounded by 
the principles which govern all contracts. It is true that the language of 
the clause of removal in the charter is general, but it is not, therefore, to 
be torn from the context. It is the part only of an entire compact, and 
is so to be interpreted, in connection with every part and with the 
whole. 

Upon surveying the entire compact, we perceive that the bank has come 
under various duties to the public ; has undertaken to perform important 
financial operations of the government ; and has paid a bonus into the 
public treasury of a million and a half of dollars. We perceive that in 
consideration of the assumption of these heavy engagements, and the pay- 
ment of that large sum of money on the part of the bank, the public has 
stipulated that the public deposits shall remain with the bank, during the 
continuation of the charter, and that its notes shall be received by the 
government, in payment of all debts, dues, and taxes. Except the cor- 
porate character conferred, there is none but those two stipulations of any 
great importance to the bank. Each of the two parties to the compact 
must stand bound to the performance of his engagements, while the other 
is honestly and faithfully fulfilling his. It is not to be conceived, in the 
formation of the compact, that either party could have anticipated that, 
while he was fairly and honestly executing every obligation which he had 
contracted, the other party might arbitrarily or capriciously exonerate 
himself from the discharge of his obligations. Suppose, when citizens of 
the United States were invited by the government to subscribe to the stock 
of this bank, that they had been told, that, although the bank performs 
all its covenants with perfect fidelity, the Secretary of the Treasury may, 
arbitrarily or capriciously, upon his speculative notions of any degree of 
public interest or convenience to be advanced, withdraw the public de- 
posits; would they have ever subscribed? Would they have been guilty 
of the folly of binding themselves to the performance of burdensome 
duties, while the government was left at liberty to violate at pleasure that 
stipulation of the compact which was by far the most essential to them ? 

On this part of the subject, I conclude, that Congress has not parted 
from, but retains, its legitimate power over the deposits ; that it might 
modify or repeal altogether the clause of removal in the charter ; that a 
breach of material stipulations on the part of the bank would authorize 
Congress to change the place of the deposits ; that a corrupt collusion to 
defraud the public, between the bank and the Secretary of the Treasury, 
would be a clear justification to Congress to direct a transfer of the public 
deposits ; that the Secretary of the Treasury is the mere agent of Congress, 
in respect to the deposits, acting in subordination to his principal ; that it 
results from the nature of all agency that it may be revoked, unless other- 



602 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

wise expressly provided ; and, finally, that the principal, and much less the 
agent, of one party can not justly or lawfully violate the compact, or any 
of its essential provisions, while the other party is in the progressive and 
faithful performance of all his engagements. 

If I am right in this view of the subject, there is an end of the argument. 
There was perfect equality and reciprocity between the two parties to the 
compact. Neither could exonerate himself from the performance of his 
obligations, while the other was honestly proceeding fairly to fulfill all his 
engagements. But the Secretary of the Treasury concedes that the public 
deposits were perfectly safe in the hands of the bank ; that the bank 
promptly met every demand upon it ; and that it faithfully performed all 
its duties. By these concessions, he surrenders the whole argument, ad- 
mits the complete obligation of the public to perform its part of the com- 
pact, and demonstrates that no reasons, however plausible or strong, can 
justify an open breach of a solemn national compact. 

Secondly. But he has brought forward various reasons to palliate or 
justify his violation of the national faith ; and it is now my purpose to 
proceed, in the second place, to examine and consider them. Before I 
proceed to do this, I hope to be allowed again to call the attention of the 
Senate to the nature of the office of Secretary of the Treasury. It is 
altogether financial and administrative. His duties relate to the finances, 
their condition and improvement, and to them exclusively. The act creat- 
ing the treasury department, and defining the duties of the secretary, dem- 
onstrates this, lie has no legislative powers ; and Congress has delegated 
and could delegate none to him. His powers, wherever given, and iu 
whatever language expressed, must be interpreted by his defined duties. 
Neither is the treasury department an executive department. It was ex- 
pressly created not to be an executive department. It is administrative, but 
not executive. His relations are positive and direct to Congress, by the 
act of his creation, and not to the president. Whenever he is put under 
the direction of the president (as he is by various subsequent acts, especial- 
ly those relating to the public loans), it is done by express provision of 
law, and for specified purposes. 

With this key to the nature of the office, and the duties of the officer, I 
will now briefly examine the various reasons which he assigns for the re- 
moval of the public deposits. The first is, the near approach of the expira- 
tion of the charter. But the charter had yet to run about two and a half 
of the twenty years to which it was limited. During the whole term the 
public deposits were to continue to be made with the bank. It was clearly 
foreseen, at the commencement of the term, as now, that it would expire, 
and yet Congress neither then nor since has ever thought proper to provide 
for the withdrawal of the deposits prior to the expiration of the charter. 
Whence does the secretary derive an authority to do what Congress had 
never done ? Whence his power to abridge in effect the period of the 
charter, and to limit it to seventeen and a half years, instead of twenty ? 



ON THE EEMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 603 

Was the urgency for the removal of the deposits so great, that he could 
not wait sixty days, until the assembling of Congress ? He admits that 
they were perfectly safe in the bank ; that it promptly met every demand 
upon it; and that it faithfully performed all its duties. Why not, then, 
wait the arrival of Congress ? The last time the House of Representatives 
had spoken, among the very last acts of the last session, that House had 
declared its full confidence in the safety of the deposits. Why not wait 
until it could review the subject, with all the new light which the secre- 
tary could throw upon it, and it again proclaim its opinion ? He came 
into office on the 23d of September, 1833, and in three days, with intui- 
tive celerity, he comprehends the whole of the operations of the complex 
department of the treasury, perceives that the government, from its origin, 
had been in uniform error, and denounces the opinions of all his prede- 
cessors ! And, hastening to rectify universal wrong, in defiance and in 
contempt of the resolution of the House, he signs an order for the removal 
of the deposits ! It was of no consequence to him, whether places of safety, 
in substitution of the bank of the United States, could be obtained or not ; 
without making the essential precautionary arrangements, he commands 
the removal almost instantly to be made. 

Why, sir, if the secretary were right in contending that he alone could 
order the removal, even he admits that Congress has power to provide for 
the security of the public money, in the new places to which it might be 
transferred. If he did not deign to consult the representatives of the peo- 
ple as to the propriety of the first step, did not a decent respect to their 
authority and judgment exact from him a delay, for the brief term of sixty 
days, that they might consider what was fitting to be done ? The truth is, 
that the secretary, by law, has nothing to do with the care and safe-keep- 
ing of the public money. As has been already shown, that duty is specific- 
ally assigned by law to the Treasurer of the United States. And, iu 
assuming upon himself the authority to provide other depositories than the 
bank of the United States, he alike trampled upon the duties of the treas- 
urer, and what was due to Congress. Can any one doubt the motive of 
this precipitancy ? Does any body doubt, that it was to preclude the action 
of Congress, or to bring it under the influence of the executive veto ? Let 
the two Houses, or either of them, perform their duty to the country, and 
we shall hereafter see whether, in that respect, at least, Mr. Secretary will 
not fail to consummate his purpose. 

Second. The next reason assigned for this offensive proceeding, is the 
re-election of the present chief magistrate. The secretary says : 

" I have always regarded the result of the last election of president of the Uni- 
ted States, as the declaration of a majority of the people, that the charter ought not 
to be renewed." * * * " Its voluntary application to Congress for the renewal 
of its charter four years before it expired, and upon the eve of the election of 
president, was understood on all sides as bringing forward that question for in- 
cidental decision at the then approaching election. It was accordingly argued 



604 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

on both sides before the tribunal of the people, and their verdict pronounced 
against the bank," and so forth. 

What has the secretary to do with elections ? Do they belong to the 
financial concerns of his department ? Why this constant reference to the 
result of the last presidential election ? Ought not the president to be 
content with the triumphant issue of it? Did he want still more vetoes? 
The winners ought to forbear making any complaints, and be satisfied, 
whatever the losers may be. After an election is fairly terminated, I have 
always thought that the best way was to forget all the incidents of the 
preceding canvass, and especially the manner in which votes had been cast. 
If one has been successful, that ought to be sufficient for him ; if defeated, 
regrets are unavailing. Our fellow-citizens have a right freely to exercise 
their elective franchise as they please, and no one, certainly no candidate, 
has any right to complain about it. 

But the argument of the secretary is, that the question of the bank was 
fully submitted to the people, by the consent of all parties, fully discussed 
before them, and their verdict pronounced against the institution, in the 
re-election of the president. His statement of the case requires that we 
should examine carefully the various messages of the president, to ascer- 
tain whether the bank question was fairly and frankly (to use a favorite 
expression of the president) submitted by him to the people of the United 
States. In his message of 1829, the president says : 

" The charter of the bank of the United States expires in 1836, and its stock- 
holders will most probably apply for a renewal of their privileges. In order to 
avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy in a measure involving such important 
principles, and such deep pecuniary interests, I feel that I can not, in justice to 
the parties interested, too soon present it to the deliberate consideration of the 
Legislature and the people." 

The charter had then upward of six years to run. Upon this solemn 
invitation of the chief magistrate, two years afterward the bank came for- 
ward with an application for renewal. Then it was discovered that the 
application was premature. And the bank was denounced for accepting 
the very invitation which had been formally given. The president pro- 
ceeds : 

" Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the bank are well ques- 
tioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens." 

This message w r as a noncommittal. The president does not announce 
clearly his own opinion, but states that of a large portion of our fellow- 
citizens. Now we all know that a large and highly respectable number of 
the people of the United States have always entertained an opinion adverse 
to the bank on both grounds. The president continues : 

" If such an institution is deemed essential to the fiscal operations of the gov- 
ernment, I submit to the wisdom of the Legislature whether a national one 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 605 

founded upon the credit of the government, and its resources, might not be 
devised." 

Here, again, the president, so far from expressing an explicit opinion 
against all national banks, makes a hypothetical admission of the utility of 
a bank, and distinctly intimates the practicability of devising one on the 
basis of the credit and resources of the government. 

In his message of 1830, speaking of the bank, the president says : 

" Nothing has occurred to lessen, in any degree, the dangers which many of 
our citizens apprehend from that institution, as at present organized. In the 
spirit of improvement and compromise, which distinguishes our country and its 
institutions, it becomes us to inquire whether it be not possible to secure the 
advantages afforded by the present bank through the agency of a bank of the 
United States, so modified in its principles and structure, as to obviate constitu- 
tional and other objections." 

Here, again, the president recites the apprehensions of " many of our 
citizens," rather than avows his own opinion. He admits, indeed, " the 
advantages afforded by the present bank," but suggests an inquiry whether 
it be possible (of course doubting) to secure them by a bank differently 
constructed. And toward the conclusion of that part of the message, his 
language fully justifies the implication, that it was not to the bank itself 
but to " its present form," that he objected. 

The message of 1831, when treating of the bank, was very brief. The 
president says: 

" Entertaining the opinions heretofore expressed in relation to the bank of the 
United States, as at present organized " (noncommittal once more ; and what 
that means, Mr. President, nobody better knows than you and I), " I felt it my 
duty, in my former messages, frankly to disclose them." 

Frank disclosures ! Now, sir, I recollect perfectly well the impressions 
made on my mind, and on those of other senators with whom I conversed, 
immediately after the message was read. We thought and said to each 
other, The president has left a door open to pass out. It is not the bank ; 
it is not any bank of the United States to which he is opposed, but it is 
to the particular organization of the existing bank. And we all concluded 
that, if amendments could be made to the charter satisfactory to the pres- 
ident, he would approve a bill for its renewal. 

"We come now to the famous message of July, 1832, negativing the bill 
to re-charter the bank. Here, it may be expected, we shall certainly find 
clear opinions, unequivocally expressed. The president can not elude the 
question. He must now be perfectly frank. We shall presently see. He 
says : 

" A bank of the United States is, in many respects, convenient to the govern- 
ment, and useful to the people. Entertaining tins opinion, and deeply impressed 
with the belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing 



606 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

bank, are unauthorized by the Constitution," and so forth. * * * "I felt it 
my duty, at an early period of my administration, to call the attention of Con- 
gress to the practicability of organizing an institution, combining all its advan- 
tages, and obviating these objections. I sincerely regret, that in the act before 
me I can perceive none of those modifications," and so forth. * * * " That a 
bank of the United States, competent to all the duties which may be required by 
the government, might be so organized as not to infringe on our own delegated 
powers, or the reserved right of the States, I do not entertain a doubt. Had the 
executive been called on to furnish the project of such an institution, the duty 
would have been cheerfully performed." 

The message is principally employed in discussing the objections which 
the president entertained to the particular provisions of the charter, and 
not to the bank itself; such as the right of foreigners to hold stock in it ; 
its exemption from State taxation ; its capacity to hold real estate, and so 
forth, and so forth. Does the president, even in this message, array him- 
self in opposition to any bank of the United States ? Does he even oppose 
himself to the existing bank under every organization of which it is suscep- 
tible ? On the contrary, does he not declare that he does not entertain a 
doubt that a bank may be constitutionally organized? Does he not even 
rebuke Congress for not calling on him to furnish a project of a bank, 
which he would have cheerfully supplied ? Is it not fairly deducible, from 
the message, that the charter of the present bank might have been so 
amended as to have secured the president's approbation to the institution ? 
So far was the message from being decisive against all banks of the United 
States, or against the existing bank, under any modification, that the pres- 
ident expressly declares that the question was adjourned. He says : 

"A general discussion will now take place, eliciting new light, and settling 
important principles ; and a new Congress, elected in the midst of such discus- 
sion, and furnishing an equal representation of the people, according to the last 
census, will bear to the capital the verdict of public opinion, and I doubt not 
bring this important question to a satisfactory result." 

This review of the various messages of the president, conclusively evinces 
that they were far from expressing, frankly and decisively, any opinions of 
the chief magistrate, except that he was opposed to the amendments of the 
charter contained iu the bill submitted to him for its renewal, and that he 
required further amendments. It demonstrates that he entertained no 
doubt that it was practicable and desirable to establish a bank of the 
United States ; it justified the hope that he might be ultimately reconciled 
to the continuation of the present bank, with suitable modifications ; and 
it expressly proclaimed that the whole subject was adjourned to the new 
Congress, to be assembled under the last census. If the parts of the mes- 
sages which I have cited, or oiher expressions, in the same document, be 
doubtful, or susceptible of a different interpretation, the review is sufficient 
for my purpose ; which is, to refute the argument, so confidently advanced, 
that the president's opinion, in opposition to the present or any other bank 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. G07 

of the United States, was frankly and fairly stated to the people, prior to 
the late election, was fully understood and finally decided by them. 

Accordingly in the canvass which ensued, it was boldly asserted by the 
partisans of the president, that he was not opposed to a bank of the United 
States, nor to the existing bank with proper amendments. They main- 
tained, at least, wherever those friendly to a national bank were in the ma- 
jority, that the re-election would be followed by a re-charter of the bank, 
with proper amendments. They dwelt, it is true, with great earnestness, 
upon his objections to the pernicious influence of foreigners in holding 
stock in it ; but they nevertheless contended that these objections would 
be cured, if he were re-elected, and the bank sustained. I appeal to the 
whole Senate, to my colleagues, to the people of Kentucky, and especially 
to the citizens of the city of Louisville, for the correctness of this state- 
ment. 

After all this, was it anticipated by the people of the United States that, 
in the re-election of the president, they were deciding against an institution 
of such vital importance ? Could they have imagined that, after an ex- 
press adjournment of the whole matter to a new Congress, by the president 
himself, he would have prejudged the action of this new Congress, and 
pronounced that a question, expressly by himself referred to its authority, 
was previously settled by the people ? He claimed no such result in his 
message, immediately after the re-election ; although in it he denounced 
the bank as an unsafe repository of the public money, and invited Con- 
gress to investigate its condition. The president, then, and the Secretary 
of the Treasury, are without all color of justification for their assertions, 
that the question of bank or no bank was fully and fairly submitted to the 
people, and a decision pronounced against it by them. 

Sir, I am surprised and alarmed at the new source of executive power, 
which is found in the result of a presidential election. I had supposed 
that the Constitution and the laws were the sole source of execntive au- 
thority ; that the Constitution could only be amended in the mode which 
it has itself prescribed ; that the issue of a presidential election, was merely 
to place the chief magistrate in the post assigned to him ; and that he had 
neither more nor less power, in consequence of the election, than the Con- 
stitution defines and delegates. But it seems that if, prior to an election j 
certain opinions, no matter how ambiguously put forth,by a candidate, are 
known to the people, these loose opinions, in virtue of the election, incor- 
porate themselves with the Constitution, and afterward are to be regarded 
and expounded as parts of the instrument. 

Third. The public money ought not, the secretary thinks, to remain in 
the bank until the last moment of the existence of the charter. But that 
was not the question which he had to decide ou the 26th of September 
last. The real question then was, could he not wait sixty days for the 
meeting of Congress ? There were many last moments, nearly two years 
and a half, between the 26 th of September and the day of the expiration 



608 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of tLe charter. But why not let the public money remain in the bank 
until the last day of the charter ? It is a part of the charter, that it shall 
so remain ; and Congress having so ordered it, the secretary ought to have 
acquiesced in the will of Congress, unless the exigency had arisen on 
which alone it was supposed his power over the deposits would be exer- 
cised. The- secretary is greatly mistaken in believing that the bank will 
be less secure in the last hours of its existence than previously. It will 
then be collecting its resources, with a view to the immediate payment of 
its notes, and the ultimate division among the stockholders of their capital ; 
and at no period of its existence will it be so strong and able to pay all 
demands upon it. As to the depreciation in the value of its notes in the 
interior, at that time, why, sir, is the secretary possessed of the least knowl- 
edge of the course of the trade of the interior, and especially of the west- 
ern States ? If he had any, he could not have made such a suggestion. 
When the bank itself is not drawing, its notes form the best medium of 
remittance from the interior to the Atlantic capitals. They are sought 
after by merchants and traders with avidity, are never below par, and in 
the absence of bank drafts may command a premium. This will continue 
to be the case as long as the charter endures, and especially during the 
last moment of existence, when its ability will be unquestionable, Phila- 
delphia being the place of the redemption ; while the notes themselves will 
be received in all the large cities in payment of duties. 

Fourth. The secretary asserts, that "it is well understood that the su- 
perior credit heretofore enjoyed by the notes of the bank of the United 
States, was not founded on any particular confidence in its management or 
solidity. It was occasioned altogether by the agreement on behalf of the 
public, in the act of incorporation, to receive them in all payments to the 
United States." I have rarely seen any State paper characterized by so 
little gravity, dignity, and circumspection, as the report displays. The 
secretary is perfectly reckless in his assertions of matter of fact, and cul- 
pably loose in his reasoning. Can he believe the assertion which he has 
made ? Can he believe, lor example, that if the notes of the bank of the 
Metropolis were made receivable in all payments to the government, they 
would ever acquire, at home and abroad, the credit and confidence which are 
attached to those of the bank of the United States ? If he had stated that 
the faculty mentioned, was one of the elements of the great credit of those 
notes, the statement would have been true ; but who can agree with him, 
that it is the sole cause ? The credit of the bank of the United States results 
from the large amount of its capital ; from the great ability and integrity 
with which it has been administered ; from the participation of the gov- 
ernment in its affairs ; from its advantageous location ; from its being the 
place of deposit of the public moneys, and its notes being receivable in all 
payments to the government ; and from its being emphatically the bank of 
the United States. This latter circumstance arranges it with the bank of 
England, France, Amsterdam, Genoa, and so forth. 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 609 

Fifth. The expansion and contraction of the accommodations of the 
bank to its individual customers, are held up by the secretary in bold re- 
lief, as evidences of misconduct, which justified his withdrawal of the de- 
posits. He represents the bank as endeavoring to operate on the public, 
by alternate bribery and oppression, with the same object in both cases, 
of influencing the election, or the administration of the president. Why 
this perpetual reference of all the operations of the institution to the ex- 
ecutive ? Why does the executive think of nothing but itself ? It is I! 
It is I ! It is I, that is meant ! appears to be the constant exclamation. 
Christianity and charity enjoin us never to ascribe a bad motive if we can 
suppose a good one. The bank is a moneyed corporation, whose profits 
result from its business ; if that be extensvie, it makes better ; if limited, 
less profit. Its interest is to make the greatest amount of dividends which 
it can safely. And all its actions may be more certainly ascribed to that 
than any other principle. The administration must have a poor opinion 
of the virtue and intelligence of the people of the United States, if it sup- 
poses that their judgments are to be warped, and their opinions controlled 
by any scale of graduated bank accommodations. The bank must have a 
still poorer conception of its duty to the stockholder, if it were to regulate 
its issues by the uncertain and speculative standard of political effect, rather 
than a positive arithmetical rule for the computation of interest. 

As to the alleged extension of the business of the bank, it has been again 
and again satisfactorily accounted for by the payment of the public debt, 
and the withdrawal from Europe of considerable sums, which threw into 
its vaults, a large amount of funds, which, to be productive, must be em- 
ployed ; and, as the commercial wants proceeding from extraordinary activity 
of business, created great demands about the same period for bank accom- 
modations, the institution naturally enlarged its transactions. It would have 
been treacherous to the best interests of its constituents if it had not done 
so. The recent contraction of its business is the result of an obvious cause. 
Notwithstanding the confidence in it, manifested by one of the last acts 
of the last House of Representatives, Congress had scarcely left the District 
before measures were put in operation to circumvent its authority. De- 
nunciations and threats were put forth against it. Rumors, stamped with 
but too much authority, were circulated, of the intention of the executive 
to disregard the admonition of the House of Representatives. An agent 
was sent out — and then such an agent — to sound the local institutions as 
to the terms on which they would receive the deposits. Was the bank, 
who could not be ignorant of all this, to sit carelessly by, without taking 
any precautionary measures ? The prudent mariner, when he sees the 
coming storm, furls his sails, and prepares for all its rage. The bank 
knew that the executive was in open hostility to it, and that it had nothing 
to expect from its forbearance. It had numerous points to defend, the 
strength or weakness of all of which was well known from its weekly re- 
turns to the secretary, and it could not possibly know at which the first 

39 



610 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

mortal stroke would be aimed. If, on the 20th of September last, instead 
of the manifesto of the president against the bank, he had officially an- 
nounced, that he did not mean to make war upon the bank, and intended 
to allow the public deposits to remain until the pleasure of Congress was 
expressed, public confidence would have been assured and unshaken, the 
business of the country continued in quiet and prosperity, and the numerous 
bankruptcies in our commercial cities averted. The wisdom of human ac- 
tions is better known in their results than at their inception. That of the 
bank is manifest from all that has happened, and especially from its actual 
condition of perfect security. 

Sixth. The secretary complains of misconduct of the bank in dele- 
gating to the committee of exchange the transaction of important business, 
and in that committee's being appointed by the president and not the 
board, by which the government directors have been excluded. The di- 
rectors who compose the board meet only periodically. Deriving no com- 
pensation from their places, which the charter, indeed, prohibits them 
from receiving, it can not be expected that they should be constantly in 
session. They must, necessarily, therefore, devolve a great part of the bus- 
iness of the bank in its details, upon the officers and servants of the 
corporation. It is sufficient, if the board controls, governs, and directs 
the whole machine. The most important operation of a bank, is that of 
paying out its cash, and that the cashier or teller and not the board per- 
forms. As to committees of exchange, the board not being always in 
session, it is evident that the convenience of the public requires that there 
should be some authority at the bank daily, to pass daily upon bills, either 
in the sale or purchase, as the wants of the community require. Every 
bank, I believe, that docs business to any extent, has a committee of ex- 
change, similar to that of the bank of the United States. In regard to 
the mode of appointment by the president of the board, it is in conformity 
with the invariable usage of the House of Representatives, with the j>rac- 
tice of the Senate for several years, and, until altered at the commence- 
ment of this session, with the usage, in a great variety, if not all of the 
State Legislatures, and with that which prevails in our popular assemblies. 
The president, speaker, chairman, moderator, almost uniformly appoints 
committees. That none of the government directors have been on the 
committee of exchange, has proceeded, it is to be presumed, from their 
not being entitled, from their skill and experience, and standing in society, 
to be put there. The government directors stand upon the same equal 
footing with those appointed by the stockholders. When appointed, they 
are thrown into the mass, and must take their fair chances with their col- 
leagues. If the President of the United States will nominate men of high 
character and credit, of known experience and knowledge in business, they 
will, no doubt, be placed in corresponding stations. If he appoints differ- 
ent men, he can not expect it. Banks are exactly the places where cur- 
rency and value are well understood and duly estimated. A piece of coin, 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 611 

having even the stamp of the government, will not pass, unless the metal 
is pure. 

Seventh. The French bill formed another topic of great complaint with 
the secretary. The state of the case is, that the government sold to the 
bank a bill on that of France for nine hundred thousand dollars, which 
the bank sold in London, whence it was sent by the purchaser to Paris to 
receive the amount. When the bank purchased the bill, it paid the amount 
to the government, or, which is the same thing, passed it to the credit of 
the treasury, to be used on demand. The bill was protested in Paris, and 
the agents of the bank, to avoid its being liable to damages, took up the 
bill on account of the bank. The bill being dishonored, the bank comes 
back on the drawer, and demands the customary damages due according 
to the course of all such transactions. The complaint of the secretary is, 
that the bank took up the bill to save its own credit, and that it did not 
do it on account of the government ; in other words, that the bank did 
not advance at Paris nine hundred thousand dollars to the government on 
account of a bill which it had already paid, every dollar, at Philadelphia. 
"Why, sir, has the secretary read the charter ? If he has, he must have 
known that the bank could not have advanced the nine hundred thou- 
sand dollars for the government at Paris, without subjecting itself to 
a penalty of three times the amouut (two million and seven hundred 
thousand dollars). The thirteenth section of the charter is express and 
positive : 

" That if the said corporation shall advance or lend any sum of money for the 
use or on account of the government of the United States, to an amount ex- 
ceeding five hundred thousand dollars, all persons concerned in making such un- 
lawful advances or loan, shall forfeit treble the amount, one fifth to the informer," 
and so forth. 

Eighth. The last reason which I shall notice of the secretary is, that 
this ambitious corporation aspires to possess political power. Those m the 
actual possession of power, especially when they have grossly abused it, 
are perpetually dreading its loss. The miser does not cling to his treasure 
with a more death-like grasp. Their suspicions are always active and on 
the alert. In every form thoy behold a rival, and every breeze comes 
charged with alarm and dread. A thousand specters glide before their af- 
frighted imaginations, and they see, in every attempt to enlighten those 
who have placed them in office, a sinister design to snatch from them their 
authority. On what other principles can we account for the extravagant 
charges brought forward by the secretary against the bank ? More ground- 
less and reckless assertions than those which he has allowed himself to 
embody in his report, never were presented to a deceived, insulted, and 
outraged people. Suffer me, sir, to group some of them. He asserts, 
" that there is sufficient evidence to prove that the bank has used its means 
to obtain politicalpower ;" that, in the presidential election, " the bank took 



612 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

an open and direct interest, demonstrating that it was using its money for 
the purpose of obtaining a hold upon the people of this country ;" that it 
" entered the political arena ;" that it circulated publications containing 
" attacks on the officers of government ;" that " it is now openly in the 
field as a political partisan ;" that there are " positive proofs" of the efforts 
of the bank to obtain power. And, finally, he concludes, as a demonstrated 
proposition : 

"Fourthly, that there is sufficient evidence to show that the bank has been 
and still is seeking to obtain political power, and has used its money for the pur- 
pose of influencing the election of the public servants." 

After all this, who can doubt that this ambitious corporation is a candi- 
date for the next presidency ? Or, if it can moderate its lofty pretensions, 
that it means at least to go for the office of Secretary of the Treasury, 
upon the next removal ? But, sir, where are the proofs of these political 
designs ? Can any thing be more reckless than these confident assertions 
of the secretary ? Let us have the proofs ; I call for the proofs. The 
bank has been the constant object, for years, of vituperation and calumny. 
It has been assailed in every form of bitterness and malignity. Its opera- 
tions have been misrepresented ; attempts have been made to destroy its 
credit, and the public confidence in its integrity and solidity ; and the char- 
acter of its officers has been assailed. Under these circumstances, it has 
dared to defend itself. It has circulated public documents, speeches of 
members of Congress, reports made by chairmen of committees, friends 01 
the administration, and other papers. And, as it was necessary to make 
the defense commensurate with the duration and the extensive theater of 
the attack, it has been compelled to incur a heavy expense to save itself 
from threatened destruction. It has openly avowed, and yet avows, its 
right and purpose to defend itself. All this was known to the last Con- 
gress. Not a solitary material fact has been since disclosed. And when 
before, in a country where the press is free, was it deemed criminal for any 
body to defend itself ? Who invested the Secretary of the Treasury with 
power to interpose himself between the people, and light, and intelligence ? 
Who gave him the right to dictate what information should be communi- 
cated to the people and by whom ? Whence does he derive his jurisdic- 
tion ? Who made him censor of the public press ? From what new sedi- 
tion law does he deduce his authority ? Is the superintendence of the 
American press a part of the financial duty of a Secretary of the Treasury ? 
Why did he not lay the whole case before Congress, and invite the revival 
of the old sedition law ? Why anticipate the arrival of their session ? 
Why usurp the authority of the only department of government compe- 
tent to apply a remedy, if there be any power to abridge the freedom of the 
press ? If the secretary wishes to purify the press, he has a most hercu- 
lean duty before him. And when he sallies out on his quixotic expedition, 
he had better begin with the Augean stable, the press nearest to him, his 
organ, as most needing purification. 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 613 

I have done with the secretary's reasons. They have been weighed and 
found wanting. There was not only no financial motive for his acting — 
the sole motive which he could officially entertain — but every financial con- 
sideration forbade him to act. I proceed now, in the third and last place, to 
examine the manner in which he has exercised his power over the de- 
posits. 

Thirdly. The whole people of the United States derive an interest from 
the public deposits in the bank of the United States, as a stockholder, in 
that institution. The bank is enabled, through its branches, to throw cap- 
ital into those parts of the Union where it is most needed. Thus it dis- 
tributes and equalizes the advantages accruing from the collection of a large 
public revenue, and the consequent public deposits. Thus it neutralizes 
the injustice which would otherwise flow from the people of the West and 
the interior's paying their full proportion of the public burdens, without 
deriving any corresponding benefit from the circulation and deposits of the 
public revenue. The use of the capital of the bank has been signally 
beneficial to the West. We there want capital, domestic, foreign — any cap- 
ital that we can honestly get. We want it to stimulate enterprise, to give 
activity to business, and to develop the vast resources which the bounty 
of nature has concentrated in that region. But, by the secretary's finan- 
cial arrangements, the twenty-five or thirty millions of the public revenue 
collected from all the people of the United States (including those of the 
West), will be retained in a few Atlantic ports. Each port will engross 
the public moneys there collected. And, as that of New Yoik collects 
about one half of the public revenue, all the people of the United States 
will be laid under contribution, not for the sake of the people of the city 
of New York, but of two or three banks in that city, in which the people 
of the United States, collectively, have not a particle of interest ; banks, 
the stock in which is or may be held by foreigners. 

Three months have elapsed, and the secretary has not yet found places 
of deposit for the public moneys, as substitutes for the bank of the United 
States. He tells us, in his report of yesterday, that the bank at Charles- 
ton to which he applied for their reception, declined the custody, and 
that he has yet found no other bank willing to assume it. But he states 
that the public interest does not in consequence suffer. No ! What is 
done with the public moneys constantly receiving in the important port of 
Charleston, the largest port (New Orleans excepted), from the Potomac 
to the Gulf of Mexico ? What with the revenue bonds ? It appears that 
he has not yet received the charters from all the banks selected as places of 
deposit. Can any thing be more improvident than that the secretary should 
undertake to contract with banks, without knowing their power and capa- 
city to contract by their charters ? That he should venture to deposit the 
people's money in banks, without a full knowledge of every thing respect- 
ing their actual condition ? But he has found some banks willing to re- 
ceive the public deposits, and he has entered into contracts with them. 



614 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

And the very first step he has taken, has been in direct violation of an ex- 
press and positive statute of the United States. By the act of the first of 
May, 1820, section sixth, it is enacted : 

" That no contract shall hereafter be made by the Secretary of State, or of 
the Treasury, or of the Department of War, or of the Navy, except under a law 
authorizing the same, or under an appropriation adequate to its fulfilment ; and 
excepting, also, contracts for the subsistence and clothing of the army or navy, 
and contracts by the quarter-master's department, may be made by the secreta- 
ries of those departments." 

Now, sir, what law authorized these contracts with the local banks, 
made by the Secretary of the Treasury ? The argument, if I understand 
the argument intended to be employed on the other side, is this : that by 
the bank charter, the secretary, is authorized to remove the public deposits, 
and that includes the power in question. But the act establishing the 
treasury department confides, expressly, the safe keeping of the public 
moneys of the United States, to the Treasurer of the United States, and not 
to the secretary ; and the treasurer, not the secretary, gives a bond for the 
fidelity with which he shall keep them. The moment, therefore, that they 
are withdrawn from the bank of the United States, they are placed, by law, 
under the charge and responsibility of the treasurer and his bond, and not 
of the secretary, who has given no bond. But let us trace this argument a 
little further. The power to remove the deposits, says the secretary, from a 
given place, implies the power to designate the place to which they shall be 
removed. And this implied power to designate the place to which they 
shall be removed, implies the power to the Secretary of the Treasury to con- 
tract with the new banks of deposit. And, on this third link, in the chain of 
implications, a fourth is constructed, to dispense with the express duties of the 
Treasurer of the United States, defined in a positive statute ; and yet a fifth, 
to repeal a positive statute of Congress, passed four years after the passage 
of the law containing the present source of this most extraordinary chain 
of implications. The exceptions in the act of 1820, prove the inflexibility 
of the rule which it prescribes. Annual appropriations are made for the 
clothing and subsistence of the army and navy. These appropriations 
might have been supposed to be included in a power to contract for those 
articles, notwithstanding the prohibitory clause in that act. But Congress 
thought otherwise, and therefore expressly provided for the exceptions. It 
must be admitted that our clerk (as the late Governor Robinson, of Louisi- 
ana, one of the purest republicans I have ever known, used to call a Secre- 
tary of the Treasury), tramples with very little ceremony upon the duties 
of the treasurer, and the acts of the Congress of the United States, when 
they come in his way. 

These contracts, therefore, between the Secretary of the Treasury and 
the local banks are mere nullities, and absolutely void, enforceable in no 
court of justice whatever, for two causes ; first, because they are made in 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 615 

violation of the act of the 1st of May, 1820 ; and, secondly, because the 
treasurer, and not the Secretary of the Treasury, alone had, if any federal 
officer possessed the power to contract with the local banks. And here, 
again, we perceive the necessity there was for avoiding the precipitancy 
with which the executive acted, and for awaiting the meeting of Congress. 
Congress could have deliberately reviewed the previous legislation, decided 
upon the expediency of a transfer of the public deposits, and, if deemed 
proper, could have passed the new laws adapted to the new condition of 
the treasury. It could have decided whether the local banks should pay 
any bonus, or pay any interest, or diffuse the public deposits throughout 
the United States, so as to secure among all their parts, equality of benefits 
as well as of burdens, and provided for ample guaranties for the safety of 
the public moneys in their new depositories. 

But let us now inquire, whether the Secretary of the Treasury has exer- 
cised his usurped authority, in the formation of these contracts, with pru- 
dence and discretion. Having substituted himself to Congress and to the 
Treasurer of the United States, he ought at least to show that, iu the stipu- 
lations of the contracts themselves, he has guarded the public moneys and 
provided for the public interests. I will examine the contract with the 
Girard bank of Philadelphia, which is presented as a specimen of the con- 
tracts with the Atlantic banks. The first stipulation limits the duty of the 
local banks to receive in deposit, on account of the United States, only the 
notes of banks convertible into coin, " in its immediate vicinity," or which 
it is, " for the time being, in the habit of receiving." Under this stipulation, 
the Girard bank, for example, will not be bound to receive the notes of the 
Louisville bank, although that also be one of the deposit banks, nor the 
notes of any other bank, not in its immediate vicinity. As to the provi- 
sion that it will receive the notes of banks which, for the time being, it is 
in the habit of receiving, it is absurd to put such a stipulation in a con- 
tract, because by the power retained to change the habit, for the time being, 
it is an absolute nullity. Now, sir, how does this compare with the charter 
and bauk of the United States ? The bank receives everywhere, and credits 
the government with the notes, whether issued by the branches or the prin- 
cipal bank. The amount of all these notes is everywhere available to the 
government. But the government may be overflowing in distant bank 
notes when they are not wanted, and a bankrupt, at the places of expendi- 
ture, under this singular arrangement. 

With respect to the transfer of moneys from place to place, the local 
banks require, in this contract, that it shall not take place but upon reason- 
able notice. And what reasonable is, has been left totally undefined, and 
of course open to future contest. When hereafter a transfer is ordered, 
and the bank is unable to make it, there is nothing to do but to allege the 
unreasonableness of the notice. The local bank agrees to render to the 
government all the services now performed by the bank of the United 
States, subject, however, to the restriction that they are required " in the 



616 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

vicinity" of the local bank. But the bank of the United States is under 
no such restrictions ; its services are co-extensive with the United States 
and their territories. 

The local banks agree to submit their books and accounts to the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, or to any agent to be appointed by him, but to be paid 
by the local banks pro rata, as far as such examination is admissible without 
a violation of their respective charters ; and how far that may be, the secre- 
tary can not tell, because he has not yet seen all the charters. He is, how- 
ever, to appoint the agents of examination, and to fix the salaries which the 
local banks are to pay. And where does the secretary find the authority 
to create officers and fix their salaries, without the authority of Congress ? 

But the most improvident, unprecedented, and extraordinory provision 
in the contract, is that which relates to the secruity. When, and not until 
the deposits in the local bank shall exceed one half of the capital stock 
annually paid in, collateral security, satisfactory to the Sectretary of the 
Treasury, is to be given for the safety of the deposits. Why, sir, a fresh- 
man, a schoolboy, would not have thus dealt with his father's guardian's 
money. Instead of the security preceding, it is to follow the deposit of the 
people's money ! That is, the local bank gets an amount of their money, 
equal to one half its capital, and then it condescends to give security ! 
Does not the secretary know, that when he goes for the security, the money 
may be gone, and that he may be entirely unable to get the one or the 
other ! We have a law, if I mistake not, which forbids the advance of 
any public money, even to a disbursing agent of the government, without 
previous security. Yet, in violation of the spirit of that law, or, at least, 
of all common sense and common prudence, the secretary disperses up- 
ward of twenty-five millions of public revenue among a countless number 
of unknown banks, and stipulates that, when the amount of the deposit 
exceeds one half of their respective capitals, security is to be given ! 

The best stipulation in the whole contract, is the last, which reserves to 
the Secretary of the Treasury the power of discharging those local bauks 
from the service of the United States whenever he pleases ; and the sooner 
he exercises it, and restores the public deposits to the place of acknowl- 
edged safety, from which they have been rashly taken, the better for all 
parties concerned. 

Let us look into the condition of one of these local banks, the nearest to 
us, and that with respect to which we have the best information. The 
banks of this District (and among them that of the Metropolis) are required 
to make annual reports of their condition on the 1st day of January. The 
latest official return from the Metropolis bank is of the 1st January, 1832. 
Why it did not make one on the 1st of last January, along with the other 
banks, I know not. In point of fact, I am informed, it made none. Here 
is its account of January, 1832, and I think you will agree that it is a 
Flemish one. On the debit side stand capital paid in, five hundred thous- 
and dollars. Due to the banks, twenty thousand nine hundred and eleven 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 617 

dollars and tea cents ; individuals on deposit, seventy-four thousand nine 
hundred and seventy-seven dollars and forty-two cents ; dividend and ex- 
penses, seventeen thousand five hundred and ninety-one dollars and seventy- 
seven cents ; and surplus, eight thousand one hundred and thirty-one 
dollars and two cents ; making an aggregate of six hundred and eighty- 
four thousand four hundred aud ninety-six dollars and thirty-one cents. 
On the credit side, there are bills and notes discounted, and stock (what 
sort?) bearing interest, six hundred and twenty six thousand and eleven 
dollars and ninety cents ; real estate, eighteen thousand four hundred and 
four dollars and eighty-six cents ; notes on other banks on hand, and 
checks on the same, twenty-three thousand two hundred and thirteen 
dollars and eighty cents ; specie — now, Mr. President, how much do you 
imagine ? Recollect, that this is the bank selected at the seat of govern- 
ment, where there is necessarily concentrated a vast amount of public 
money, employed in the expenditure of the government. Recollect that, 
by another executive edict, all public officers, charged with the disburse- 
ment of the public money here, are required to make their deposits with 
this Metropolis ; and how much specie do you suppose it had at the date 
of its last official return ? ten thousand nine hundred and seventy-four dol- 
lars and seventy-six cents : due from other banks, five thousand eight 
hundred and ninety dollars and ninety-nine cents ; making an aggregate 
on the credit side, six hundred and eighty-four thousand four hundred and 
ninety-six dollars and thirty-one cents. Upon looking into the items, and 
casting them up, you will find that this Metropolis bank, on the 1st day of 
January, 1832, was liable to an immediate call for one hundred and 
seventy-six thousand three hundred and thirty-five dollars and twenty-nine 
cents, and that the amount which it had on hand, ready to meet that call, 
was forty thousand and seventy-nine dollars and fifty-five cents. Aud this 
is one of the banks selected at the seat of the general government, for the 
deposit of the public moneys of the United States ! A bank with a capital 
of thirty millions of dollars, and upward of ten millions of specie on hand 
has been put aside, and a bank with a capital of half a million, and a little 
more than ten thousand dollars in specie on hand, has been substituted in 
its place ! How that half million has been raised, whether in part or in 
the whole, by the neutralizing operation of giving stock notes in exchange 
for certificates of stock, does not appear. 

The design of the whole scheme of this treasury arrangement seems to 
have been, to have united in one common league a number of local banks, 
dispersed throughout the Union, and subject to one central will, with a 
right of or scrutiny instituted by the agents of that will. It is a bad imita- 
tion of the New York project of a safety-fund. This confederation of banks 
will probably be combined in sympathy as well as interest, and will be 
always ready to fly to the succor of the source of their' nourishment. As 
to their supplying a common currency, in place of that of the bank of the 
United States, the plan is totally destitute of the essential requisite. They 



618 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

are not required to credit each other's paper, unless it be issued in the 
u immediate vicinity." 

We have seen what is in this contract. Now let us see what is not 
there. It contains no stipulation for the preservation of the public morals ; 
none for tlie freedom of elections ; none for the purity of the press. All 
these great interests, after all that has been said against the bank of the 
United States, are left to sbift and take care of themselves as they can. 
We have already seen the president of a bank in a neighboring city rush- 
ing impetuously to the defense of the Secretary of the Treasury against an 
editorial article in a newspaper, although the " venom of the shaft was quite 
equal to the vigor of the bow." Was he rebuked by the Secretary of the 
Treasury ? Was the bank discharged from the public service ? Or, are 
morals, the press, the elections, in no danger of contamination, when a 
host of banks become literary champions on the side of power and the 
officers of government ? Is the patriotism of the secretary only alarmed 
when the infallibility of high authority is questioned ? Will the States 
silently acquiesce, and see the federal authority insinuating itself into banks 
of their creation, and subject to their exclusive control ? 

We have, Mr. President, a most wonderful financier at the head of our 
Treasury Department. He sits quietly by in the cabinet, and witnesses the 
contest between his colleague and the president; sees the conflict in the 
mind of that colleague between his personal attachment to the president on 
the one hand, and his solemn duty to the public on the other ; beholds the 
triumph of conscientious obligation ; contemplates the noble spectacle of 
an honest man preferring to surrender an exalted office with all its honors 
and emoluments, rather than betray the interests of the people ; witnesses 
the contemptuous and insulting expulsion of that colleague from office; 
and then coolly enters the vacated place, without the slightest sympathy 
or the smallest emotion. He was installed on the 23d of September, and 
by the 2Gth, the brief period of three days, he discovers that the govern- 
ment of the United States had been wrong from its origin ; that everyone 
of his predecessors from Hamilton down, including Gallatin (who, what- 
ever I said of him on a former occasion, and that I do not mean to retract, 
possessed more practical knowledge of currency, banks, and finance, than 
any man I have ever met in the public councils), Dallas, and Crawford, had 
been mistaken about both the expediency and constitutionality of the bank; 
that every chief magistrate, prior to him wdiose patronage he enjoyed, had 
been wrong; that the Supreme Court of the United States, and the people 
of the United States, during the thirty-seven years that they had acquiesced 
in or recognized the utter utility of a bank, were all wrong. And, opposing 
his single opinion to their united judgments, he dismisses the bank, scatters 
the public money, and undertakes to regulate and purify the public morals, 
the public press, and popular elections ! 

If we examine the operations of this modern Turgot, in their financial 
bearing, merely, we shall find still less for approbation. 



ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 619 

First. He withdraws the public moneys, where, by his own deliberate 
admission, they were perfectly safe, with a bank of thirty-five millions of 
capital, and ten millions of specie, and places them at great hazard with 
banks of comparatively small capital, and but little specie, of which the 
Metropolis bank is an example. 

Second. He withdraws them from a bank created by, and over which 
the federal government had ample control, and puts them in other banks, 
created by different governments, and over which it has no control. 

Third. He withdraws them from a bank in which the American people, 
as a stockholder, were drawing their fair proportion of interest accruing on 
loans, of which those deposits formed the basis, and puts them where the 
people of the United States draw no interest. 

Fourth. From a bank which has paid a bonus of a million and a half, 
which the people of the United States may be now liable to refund, and 
puts them in banks which have paid to the American people no bonus. 

Fifth. Depreciates the value of stock in a bank, where the general 
government holds seven millions, and advances that of banks in whose 
stock it does not hold a dollar ; and whose aggregate capital does not 
probably much exceed that very seven millions. And, finally, 

Sixth. He dismisses a bank whose paper circulates in the greatest credit 
throughout the Union and in foreign countries, and engages in the public 
service banks whose paper has but a limited and local circulation in their 
" immediate vicinities." 

These are immediate and inevitable results. How much that large and 
long-standing item of unavailable funds, annually reported to Congress, 
will be swelled and extended, remains to be developed by time. 

And now, Mr. President, what, under all these circumstances, is it our 
duty to do ? Is there a senator who can hesitate to affirm, in the language 
of the resolution, that the president has assumed a dangerous power over 
the treasury of the United States, not granted to him by the Constitution 
and the laws ; and that the reasons assigned for the act, by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, are insufficient and unsatisfactory ? 

The eyes and the hopes of the American people are anxiously turned to 
Congress. They feel that they have been deceived and insulted ; their 
confidence abused ; their interests betrayed ; and their liberties in danger. 
They see a rapid and alarming concentration of all power in one man's 
hands. They see that, by the exercise of the positive authority of the ex- 
ecutive, and his negative power exerted over Congress, the will of one man 
alone prevails, and governs the republic. The question is no longer what 
laws will Congress pass, but what will the executive not veto ? The presi- 
dent, and not Congress, is addressed for legislative action. We have seen 
a corporation, charged with the execution of a great national work, dismiss 
an experienced, faithful, and zealous president, afterward testify to his ability 
by a voluntary resolution, and reward his extraordinary services by a large 
gratuity, and appoint in his place an executive favorite, totally inexperienced 



620 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

and incompetent, to propitiate the president. We behold the usual inci- 
dents of approaching tyranny. The land is filled with spies and informers ; 
and detraction and denunciation are the orders of the day. People, espe- 
cially official incumbents in this place, no longer dare speak in the fearless 
tones of manly freedom, but in the cautious whispers of trembling slaves. 
The premonitory symptoms of despotism are upon us ; and if Congress do 
not apply an instantaneous and effective remedy, the fatal collapse will soon 
come on, and we shall die — ignobly die ! base, mean, and abject slaves — 
the scorn and contempt of mankind — unpitied, unwept, unmourned ! 



ON THE GENERAL DISTRESS CAUSED BY THE 
REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 

IN SENATE, MARCH 7, 1834. 

[The commercial distress of the country occasioned by the 
removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the United 
States, followed quickly on the heels of that transaction, as Mr. 
Clay had predicted. The following brief speech was made on 
the occasion of presenting a petition from citizens of Philadel- 
phia for relief, and it is chiefly remarkable for the earnest appeal 
which Mr. Clay makes to those members of the Senate and oth- 
ers, who were political and personal friends of General Jackson, 
to use their influence with the president to induce him to relieve 
the general distress, which it was within his power to do. The 
principal appeal was to Mr. Van Buren, the vice-president, who 
was ex officio president of the Senate. Mr. Clay was so earnest 
in his address to Mr. Van Buren, that, without being conscious 
of the movement, he left his seat on the outer circle, walked 
down the aisle, still speaking and gesticulating, till he stood on 
the lowest level, with the whole Senate behind him, and so near 
the vice-president's desk as to be able to lay his hand upon it — 
still continuing his entreaties. He might w T ell say, as he did at 
the close of this appeal : " If I have deviated from the beaten 
track of debate, my apology must be found in the anxious solici- 
tude I feel for the condition of the country." And yet he did 
not know that he was down on the floor in front of the vice- 
president's chair.] 

I have been requested by the committee from Philadelphia, charged 
with presenting the memorial to Congress, to say a few words on the sub- 
ject ; and although, after the ample and very satisfactory exposition which 
it has received from the senator from Massachusetts, further observations 
are entirely unnecessary, I can not deny myself the gratification of com- 
plying with a request, proceeding from a source so highly worthy of re- 
spectful consideration. 

And what is the remedy to be provided for this most unhappy state of 
the country ? I have conversed freely with the members of the Philadel- 



622 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

phia committee. They are real, practical, working men ; intelligent, well 
acquainted with the general condition, and with the sufferings of their par- 
ticular community. No one, who has not a heart of steel, can listen to 
them, without feeling the deepest sympathy for the privations and suffer- 
ings unnecessarily brought upon the laboring classes. Both t'ne committee 
and the memorial declare that their reliance is, exclusively, on the legislative 
branch of the government. Mr. President, it is with subdued feelings of 
the profoundest humility and mortification, that I am compelled to say, that, 
/constituted as Congress now is, no relief will be afforded by it, unless its 
members shall be enlightened and instructed by the people themselves. A 
large portion of the body, whatever may be their private judgment upon 
the course of the president, believe it to be their duty, at all events safest 
for themselves, to sustain him, without regard to the consequences of his 
measures upon the public interests. And nothing but clear, decided, and 
unequivocal demonstrations of the popular disapprobation of what has 
been done, will divert them from their present purpose. 
/-~But there is another quarter which possesses sufficient power and influence 
to relieve the public distresses. In twenty four hours the executive branch 
could adopt a measure which would afford an efficacious and substantial 
remedy, and re-establish confidence. And those who, in this chamber, 
snpport the administration, could not render a better service than to repair 
to the executive mansion, and, placing before the chief magistrate the na- 
ked and undisguised truth, prevail upon him to retrace his steps and aban- 
don his fatal experiment. No one, sir, can perform, that duty with more 
propriety than yourself. You can, if you will, induce him to change his 
course. To you, then, sir, in no unfriendly spirit, but with feelings soft- 
ened and subdued by the deep distress which pervades every class of our 
countrymen, I make the appeal. By your official and personal relations 
with the president, you maintain with him an intercourse which I neither 
enjoy nor covet. Go to him and tell him, without exaggeration, but in the 
language of truth and sincerity, the actual condition of his bleeding coun- 
try. Tell him it is nearly ruined and undone, by the measures which he 
has been induced to put in operation. Tell him that his experiment is op- 
erating on the nation like the philosopher's experiment upon a convulsed 
animal, in an exhausted receiver, and that it must expire in agony, if he 
does not pause, give it free aud sound circulation, and suffer the energies 
of the people to be revived and restored. Tell him that, in a single city, 
more than sixty bankruptcies, involving a loss of upward of fifteen millions 
of dollars, have occurred. Tell him of the alarming decline in the value 
of all property, of the depreciation of all the products of industry, of the 
stagnation in every branch of business, and of the close of numerous man- 
ufacturing establishments, which a few short months ago, were in active 
and flourishing operation. Depict to him, if you can find language to por- 
tray, the heart-rending wretchedness of thousands of the working classes 
cast out of employment. Tell him of the tears of helpless widows, no 



ON THE PUBLIC DISTRESS. 623 

longer able to earn their bread ; and of unclad and unfed orphans, who 
have been driven by bis policy, out of the busy pursuits in which but yes- 
terday they were gaining an honest livelihood. Say to him, that if firm- 
ness be honorable, when guided by truth and justice, it is intimately allied 
to another quality, of the most pernicious tendency, in the prosecution of 
an erroneous system. Tell him how much more true glory is to be won 
by retracing false steps, than by blindly rushing on until his country is 
overwhelmed in bankruptcy and ruin. Tell him of the ardent attachment, 
the unbounded devotion, the enthusiastic gratitude toward him, so often 
signally manifested by the American people, and that they deserve at his 
hands better treatment. Tell him to guard himself against the possibility 
of an odious comparison, with that worst of the Roman emperors, who, 
contemplating with indifference the conflagration of the mistress of the 
world, regaled himself during the terrific scene, in the throng of his danc- 
ing courtiers. If you desire to secure for yourself the reputation of a 
public benefactor, describe to him truly the universal distress already pro- 
duced, and the certain ruin which must ensue from perseverance in his 
measures. Tell him that he has been abused, deceived, betrayed, by the 
wicked counsels of unprincipled men around him. Inform him that all 
efforts in Congress, to alleviate or terminate the public distress, are para- 
lyzed, and likely to prove totally unavailing, from his influence upon a large 
portion of the members, who are unwilling to withdraw thcdr support, or 
to take a course repugnant to his wishes and feelings. Tell him that, in 
his bosom alone, under actual circumstances, does the power abide to re- 
lieve the country; and that, unless he opens it to conviction, and corrects 
the errors of his administration, no human imagination can conceive, and 
no human tongue can express, the awful consequences which may follow. 
Entreat him to pause, and to reflect that there is a point beyond which 
human endurance can not go ; and let him not drive this brave, generous, 
and patriotic people, to madness and despair. 

Mr. Piesideut, unaffectedly in disposed, and unwilling as I am to trespass 
upon the Senate, I could not decline complying with a request addressed 
to me, by a respectable portion of my fellow-citizens, part of the bone and 
sinew of the American public. Like the senator from Massachusetts, who 
has been intrusted with the presentation of their petition to the Senate, I 
found them plain, judicious, sensible men, clearly understanding their own 
interests, and, with the rest of the community, writhing under the operation 
of the measures of the executive. If I have deviated from the beaten track 
of debate in the Senate, my apology must be found in the anxious solicit- 
ude which I feel for the condition of the country. And, sir, if I shall have 
been successful in touching your heart, and exciting in you a glow of pat- 
riotism, I shall be most happy. You can prevail upon the president to 
abandon his ruinous course ; and, if you will exert the influence which 
you possess, you will command the thanks and the plaudits of a grateful 
people. 



ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY AFTER THE 
REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS, 

IN SENATE, MARCH 14, 1834. 

[We have here another impromptu from Mr. Clay, on present- 
ing several petitions for relief from the effects of the removal of 
the deposits. The president had seized the purse of the nation, 
appointed a Secretary of the Treasury, and told him what to do ; 
and he refused to send his name to the Senate for confirmation. 
The Secretary, as the agent of the president — constitutionally, 
he is the agent of Congress — had removed the public deposits 
into such banks as he could find to take them, and those people 
who are the soul of business being in debt to the bank of the 
United States, could get no extension, and were called upon to 
pay, as their notes became due. This operated on all classes of 
the people, to deprive them of a currency, and to throw them 
out of business. The distress was universal. The powers of the 
purse and the sword were now in the hands of one man, and 
Mr. Taney was the agent of the purse. There was no mode by 
which Congress could recover possession of the purse, so long as 
the president refused to send in the name of his appointed agent, 
and this he would not do while he feared the Senate would not 
confirm his appointment. Thus stood matters at this time — no 
remedy for the people, no remedy for Congress. By usurping 
the purse, the president had usurped all power ; and he had 
done this in the face of a resolution of the House of Represent- 
atives, that the public deposits were safe in the Bank of the 
United States — which was, in fact, an authoritative prohibition 
of their removal. This resolution was passed for the express 
purpose of preventing it. The Constitution had purposely put 
the national treasury in charge of Congress, that the president 
could never lay his hands upon it. But General Jackson was 
not a man to stop for the Constitution or laws, and he seized 
the purse.] 



ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 625 

I am charged with the pleasing duty of presenting to the Senate the pro 
ceedings of a public meeting of the people, and two memorials, subscribed 
by large numbers of my fellow-citizens, in respect to the exciting state of 
public affairs. 

The first I would offer are the resolutions of the young men of Troy, 
assembled upon a call of upward of seven hundred of their number. I 
have recently visited that interesting city. It is one of the most beautiful 
of a succession of fine cities and villages that decorate the borders of one 
of the noblest rivers of our country. In spite of the shade cast upon it by 
its ancient and venerable sister and neighbor, it has sprung up with aston- 
ishing rapidity. "When I saw it last fall, I never beheld a more respectable, 
active, enterprising, and intelligent business community. Every branch of 
employment was flourishing. Every heart beat high in satisfaction with 
present enjoyment, and hopes from the prospect of future success. How 
sadly has the scene changed ! How terribly have all their anticipations of 
continued and increasing prosperity been dashed and disappointed by the 
folly and wickedness of misguided rulers ! 

The young men advert to this change, in their resolutions, and to its true 
cause. They denounce all experiments upon their happiness. They call 
for the safer counsels which prevailed under the auspices of Washington 
and Madison, both of whom gave their approbation to charters of a bank 
of the United States. 

But what gives to these resolutions peculiar interest, in my estimation, 
is, that they exhibit a tone of feeling which rises far above any loss of 
property, however great, any distress from the stagnation of business, how- 
ever intense. They manifest a deep and patriotic sensibility to executive 
usurpations, and to the consequent danger to civil liberty. Thev solemnly 
protest against the union of the purse and the sword in the hands of one 
man. They would not have consented to such a union in the person of 
the father of his country, much less will they in that of any living man. 
They feel that, when liberty is safe, the loss of fortune and property is com- 
paratively nothing ; but that when liberty is sacrificed, existence has lost 
all its charms. 

The next document which I have to offer is a memorial, signed by nearly 
nine hundred mechanics of the city of Troy. Several of them are per- 
sonally known to me. And judging from what I know, see, and hear, I 
believe there is not anywhere a more skillful, industrious, and respectable 
body of mechanics, than in Troy. They bear testimony to the prevalence 
of distress, trace it to the illegal acts of the executive branch of the gov- 
ernment in the removal of the public deposits ; ask their restoration, and 
the re-charter of the bank of the United States. And the committee, in 
their letter addressed to me, say, " We are, what we profess to be, working 
men, dependent upon our labor for our daily bread, confine our attention 
to our several vocations, and trust in God and the continental Congress for 
buch protection as will enable us to operate successfully." 

40 



626 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

The first-mentioned depository of their confidence will not deceive them. 
But I lament to say that the experience during this session, does not 
authorize us to anticipate the co-operation in another quarter, which is in- 
dispensable to the restoration of the Constitution and laws, and the recov- 
ery of the public purse. 

The last memorial I would present, has been transmitted to me by the 
secretaries to a meeting stated to be the largest ever held in the county of 
Schenectady, in New York. It is signed by about eight hundred persons. 
In a few instances, owing to the subscriptions having been obtained by 
different individuals, the same name occurs twice. The memorialists bring 
their testimony to the existence of distress, and the disorders of the cur 
rency, and invoke the application of the only known, tried, and certain 
remedy, the establishment of a national bauk. 

And now, Mr. President, I will avail myself of the occasion to say a 
few words on the subject-matter of these proceedings and memorials, and 
on the state of the country as we found it at the commencement of the 
session, and its present state. 

When we met, we found the executive in the full possession of the pub- 
lic treasury. All its barriers had been broken down, and in place of the 
control of the law was substituted the uncontrolled will of the chief mao-is- 
trate. I say uncontrolled ; for it is idle to pretend, that the executive has 
not unrestrained access to the public treasury, when every officer connected 
with it is bound to obey his paramount will. It is not the form of keeping 
the account ; it is not the place alone where the public money is kept ; but 
it is the power, the authority, the responsibility of independent officers, 
checking and checked by each other, that constitute the public security 
for the safety of the public treasure. This no longer exists, it is gone, is 
annihilated. 

The secretary sent us in a report containing the reasons (if they can be 
dignified with that appellation) for the executive seizure of the public purse. 
Resolutions were promptly offered in this body, denouncing the procedure 
as unconstitutional and dangerous to liberty, and declaring the total insuffi- 
ciency of the reasons. Nearly three months were consumed in the dis- 
cussion of them. In the early part of this protracted debate, the supporters 
of distress, pronounced it a panic got up for dramatic effect, and affirmed 
that the country was enjoying great prosperity. Instances occurred of 
members asserting that the places of their own residence were in the full 
enjoyment of enviable and unexampled prosperity, who, in the progress of 
the debate, were compelled reluctantly to own their mistake, and to admit 
the existence of deep and intense distress. Memorial after memorial poured 
iu, committee after committee repaired to the capitol to represent the suf- 
ferings of the people, until incredulity itself stood rebuked and abashed. 
Then it was the bank that had inflicted the calamity upon the country ; 
that bank which was to be brought under the feet of the president, should 
proceed forthwith to wind up its affairs. 



ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 627 

And, during the debate, it was again and again pronounced by the parti- 
sans of the executive, that the sole question involved in the resolutions 
was, bank or no bank. It was in vain that we protested, solemnly pro- 
tested, that that was not the question ; and that the true question was of 
immensely higher import ; that it comprehended the inviolability of the 
Constitution, the supremacy of the laws, aud the union of the purse and 
the sword in the hands of one man. In vain did members repeatedly rise 
in their places, and proclaim their intention to vote for the restoration of 
the deposits, and their settled determination to vote against the re-charter 
of the bank, and against the charter of any bank. Gentlemen persisted 
in asserting the identity of the bank question, and that contained in the 
resolutions ; and thousands of the people of the country are, to this moment, 
deluded by the erroneous belief in that identity. 

Mr. President, the arts of power and its minions are the same in all 
countries and in all ages. It marks a victim ; denounces it ; and excites 
the public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and 
encroachments. It avails itself of the prejudices^and the passions of the 
people, silently and secretly to forge chains to inslave the people. 

Well, sir, during- the continuance of the debate, we have been told 
over and over again, that, let the question of the deposits be settled, let 
Congress pass upon the report of the secretary, and the activity of business 
and the prosperity of the country will again speedily revive. The Senate 
has passed upon the resolutions, and has done its duty to the country, to 
the Constitution, and to its conscience. 

And the report of the secretary has been also passed upon in the other 
House ; but how passed upon ? The official relations which exist between 
the two Houses, and the expediency of preserving good feelings and har- 
mony between them, forbid my saying all that I feel on this momentous sub- 
ject. But I must say, that the House, by the Constitution, is deemed the 
especial guardian of the rights and interests of the people ; and, above all, 
the guardian of the people's money in the public treasury. The House 
has given the question of the sufficiency of the secretary's reasons the go- 
by, evaded it, shunned it, or rather merged it in the previous question. 
The House of Representatives have not ventured to approve the secretary's 
reasons. It can not approve them ; but, avoiding the true and original 
question, has gone off upon a subordinate and collateral point. It has 
indirectly sanctioned the executive usurpation. It has virtually abandoned 
its constitutional care and control over the public treasury. It has sur- 
rendered the keys, or rather permits the executive to retain their custody ; 
and thus acquiesces in that conjunction of the sword and the purse of the 
nation, which all experience has evinced, and all patriots have believed, to 
be fatal to the continuance of public liberty. 

Such has been the extraordinary disposition of this great question. Has 
the promised relief come ? In one short week after the House pronounced 
its singular decision, three banks in this District of Columbia have stopped 



628 SPEECHES OF henry clay. 

payment and exploded. In one of them the government has, we under- 
stand, sustained a loss of thirty thousand dollars. And in another, almost 
within a stone's throw of the capitol, that navy pension fund, created for 
our infirm and disabled, but gallant tars, which ought to be held sacred, 
has experienced an abstraction of twenty thousand dollars ! Such is the 
realization of the prediction of relief made by the supporters of the exec- 
utive. 

And what is the actual state of the public treasury ? The president, not 
satisfied with the seizure of it, more than two months before the com- 
mencement of the session, appointed a second Secretary of the Treasury 
since the adjournment of the last Congress. We are now in the fifth 
month of the session ; and in defiance of the sense of the country, and in 
contempt of the participation of the Senate in the appointing power, the 
president has not yet deigned to submit the nomination of his secretary to 
the consideration of the Senate. Sir, I have not looked into the record, 
but, from the habitual practice of every previous president, from the 
deference and respect wtrich they all maintained toward a co-ordinate 
branch of the government, I venture to say, that a parallel case is not to 
be found. 

Mr. President, it is a question of the highest importance, what is to be 
the issue, what the remedy, of the existing evils. We should deal with 
the people, openly, frankly, sincerely. The Senate stands ready to do 
whatever is incumbent upon it ; but unless the majority in the House will 
relent, unless it will take heed of and profit by recent events, there is no 
hope for the nation from the joint action of the tw? Houses of Congress 
at this session. Still, I would say to my countrymen, Do not despair. You 
are a young, brave, intelligent, and, as yet, a free people. A complete 
remedy for all that you sutler, and all that you dread, is in your own 
hands. And the events, to which I have just alluded, demonstrate that 
those of us have not been deceived who have always relied upon the virtue, 
the capacity, and the intelligence of the people. 

I congratulate you, Mr. President, and I hope you will receive the con- 
gratulation with the same heartfelt cordiality with which I tender it, upon 
the issue of the late election in the city of New York. I hope it will ex- 
cite a patriotic glow in your bosom. I congratulate the Senate, the coun- 
try, the city of New York, the friends of liberty everywhere. It was a 
great victory. It must be so regarded in every aspect. From a majority 
of more than six thousand, which the dominant party boasted a few months 
ago, if it retain any, it is a meager and spurious majority of less than two 
hundred. And the whigs contended with such odds against them — a 
triple alliance of State placemen, corporation placemen, and federal place- 
men, amounting to about thirty-five hundred, and deriving, in the form of 
salaries, compensations, and allowances, ordinary aud extra, from the public 
chests, the enormous sum, annually, of nearly one million of dollars ; 
marshaled, drilled, disciplined, commanded. The struggle was tremen- 



ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 629 

dous ; but what can withstand the irresistible power of the votaries of truth, 
liberty, and their country ? It was an immortal triumph — a triumph of the 
Constitution and the laws over usurpation here, and over clubs, and blud- 
geons, and violence there. 

Go on, noble city ! Go on, patriotic whigs ! follow up your glorious 
commencement ; persevere, and pause not until you have regenerated and 
disenthralled your splendid city, and placed it at the head of American 
cities devoted to civil liberty, as it now stands pre-eminently the first as the 
commercial emporium of our common country. Merchants, mechanics, 
traders, laborers, never cease to recollect, that without freedom, you can 
have no sure commerce or business ; and that without law you have no 
security for personal liberty, property, or even existence ! Countrymen of 
Tone, of Emmet, of Macneven, and of Sampson, if any of you have been 
deceived, and seduced into the support of a cause dangerous to American 
liberty, hasten to review and correct your course ! Do not forgot, that 
you abandoned the green fields of your native island to escape what you 
believed the tyranny of a British king ! Do not, I adjure you, lend your- 
selves, in this land of your asylum, this last retreat of the freedom of man, 
to the establishment here, for you, and for us all, of that despotism which 
you had proudly hoped had been left behind you, in Europe, forever ! 
There is much, I would fain believe, in the constitutional forms of gov- 
ernment. But at last it is its parental and beneficent operation that 
must fix its character. A government may in form be free, in prac- 
tice tyrannical ; as it may in form be despotic, and in practice liberal and 
free. 

It was a brilliant and signal triumph of the whigs. And they have as- 
sumed for themselves, and bestowed on their opponents, a demonstration 
which, according to all the analogy of history, is strictly correct. It de- 
serves to be extended throughout the whole country. What was the 
origin, among our British ancestors, of those appellations ? The tories 
were the supporters of executive power, of royal prerogative, of the maxim 
that the king could do no wrong, of the detestable doctrines of passive 
obedience and non-resistance. The whigs were the champions of liberty, 
the friends of the people, and the defenders of the power of their repre- 
sentatives in the House of Commons. 

During our revolutionary war, the tories took sides with executive 
power and prerogative, and with the king, against liberty and independence. 
And the whigs, true to their principles, contended against royal executive 
power, and for freedom and independence. 

And what is the present but the same contest in another form ? The 
partisans of the present executive sustain his power in the most boundless 
extent. They claim for him all executive authority. They make his sole 
will the governing power. Every officer concerned in the administration, 
from the highest to the lowest, is to conform to his mandates. Even the 
public treasury, hitherto regarded as sacred, and beyond his reach, is placed 



C30 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

by them under his entire direction and control. The whigs of the present 
day are opposing executive encroachment, and a most alarming extension 
of executive power and prerogative. They are ferreting out the abuses 
and corruptions of an administration, under a chief magistrate who is en- 
deavoring to concentrate in his own person the whole powers of govern- 
ment. They are contending for the rights of the people, for civil liberty, 
for free institutions, for the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws. 
The contest is an arduous one; but, although the struggle may be yet 
awhile prolonged, by the blessing of God, and the spirit of our ancestors, 
the issue can not be doubtful. 

Tho Senate stands in the breach, ready to defend the Constitution, and 
to relieve the distresses of the people. But, without the concurrence of 
another branch of Congress, which ought to be the first to yield it, the 
Senate alone can send forth no act of legislation. Unaided, it can do no 
positive good ; but it has vast preventive power. It may avert and arrest 
evil, if it can not rebuke usurpation. Senators, let us remain steadily by 
the Constitution and the country, in this most portentous crisis ; let us 
oppose, to all encroachments and to all corruption, a manly, resolute, and 
uncompromising resistance ; let us adopt two rules, from which we will 
never deviate, in deliberating upon all nominations. In the first place, to 
preserve untarnished and unsuspected the purity of Congress, let us nega- 
tive the nominations of every member for any office, high or low, foreign 
or domestic, until the authority of the Constitution and laws is fully re- 
stored. I know not that there is any member of either House capable of 
being influenced by the prospect of advancement or promotion ; I would 
be the last to make such an insinuation ; but suspicion is abroad, and it 
is best, in these times of trouble and revolution, to defend the integrity 
of the body against all possible imputations. For one, whatever others 
may do, I here deliberately avow my settled determination, while I retain 
a seat in this chamber, to act in conformity to that rule. In pursuing it, 
we but act in consonance with a principle proclaimed by the present 
chief magistrate himself, when out of power ! But, alas ! how little has 
he respected it in power ! How little has he, in office, conformed to any 
of the principles which he announced when out of office ! 

And, in the next place, let us approve of the original nomination of no 
notorious brawling partisan and electioneerer ; but, especially, of the re- 
appointment of no officer presented to us, who shall have prostituted the 
influence of his office to partisan and electioneering purposes. Every in- 
cumbent has a clear right to exercise the elective franchise. I would be 
the last to controvert or deny it. But he has no right to employ the in- 
fluence of his office, to exercise an agency which he holds in trust for the 
people, to promote his own selfish or party purposes. Here, also, we have 
the authority of the present chief magistrate for this rule ; and the au- 
thority of Mr. Jefferson. The senator from Tennessee (Mr. Grand v), merits 
lasting praise for his open and manly condemnation of these practices of 



OX THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 631 

official incumbents. He was right, when he declared his suspicion and 
distrust of the purity of the motives of any officer whom he saw busily 
interfering in the elections of the people. 

Senators ! we have a highly responsible and arduous position ; but the 
people are with us, and the path of duty lies clearly marked before us. 
Let us be firm, persevering, and unmoved. Let us perform our duty in 
a manner worthy of our ancestors ; worthy of American senators ; worthy 
of the dignity of the sovereign States that we represent ; above all, worthy 
of the name of American freemen ! Let us " pledge our lives, our for- 
tunes, and our sacred honor," to rescue our beloved country from all im- 
pending dangers. And, amid the general gloom and darkness which pre- 
vail, let us continue to present one unextinguished light, steadily burning, 
in the cause of the people, of the Constitution, and of civil liberty. 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE, 

IN SENATE, JANUARY 14, 1835. 

[The government of France, by a treaty with the United 
States, made in 1831, had agreed to pay an indemnity to ns for 
spoliations on our commerce, the first installment of which, about 
one million of dollars, was taken by the Bank of the United 
States, but when presented for payment, it was protested, and 
thrown back on the Treasury of the United States. General 
Jackson, as his nature was, resented it as he would a private 
wrong ; and in his annual message of December, 1834, recom- 
mended to Congress a measure of reprisals on French commerce 
to obtain the consideration clue. This happened in the reign 
of Louis Philippe, when the French Chambers refused to make 
the appropriation to meet the engagement. Nobody doubted 
that it would ultimately be paid, the present difficulty being 
supposed to be between the French king and the Chamber of 
Deputies ; and it was a mere question of national policy how 
this dishonor of our draft should be treated. General Jackson's 
feeling was, Pay or fight — as no one doubted that reprisals would 
bring on war. 

Mr. Clay was for more moderate counsels. He would have 
our rights, but not rush into war without giving the French 
government a chance to settle their own dissensions. Being at 
the head of the committee on foreign relations in the Senate, he 
made an elaborate but conciliatory report on the subject, sub- 
mitting the following resolution : 

Resolved that it is inexpedient, at this time, to pass any law vesting in the 
president authority for making reprisals upon French property, in the contin- 
gency of provision not being made for paying to the United States, the indem- 
nity stipulated by the treaty of 1831, during the present session of the French 
Chambers. 

General Jackson's message had gone before, and had no doubt 
much disturbed the temper of the French nation. The French 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. G33 

minister was immediately recalled from Washington, and the 
American minister at Paris had received his passports. The 
relations between the two governments were evidently extremely 
critical. Mr. Clay thought, if he could obtain a unanimous 
vote of the Senate in support of the above resolution, its effect 
would counteract that of the president's message, and preserve 
peace ; and it was accordingly unanimously affirmed. The in- 
demnity was paid, and the cloud of war blew over. The effects 
of General Jackson's precipitancy were neutralized by Mr. Clay's 
wisdom. Otherwise there would, in all probability, have been 
war between the United States and France.] 

It is not my purpose, at the present stage of consideration of this reso- 
lution, and I hope it will not be necessary at any stage, to say much with 
the view of enforcing the arguments in its favor, which are contained in 
the report of the committee. In the present posture of our relations with 
France, the course which has appeared to me and to the committee most 
expedient being to await the issue of those deliberations in the French 
Chambers which may even at this moment be going on, it would not be 
proper to enter at large, at the present time, into all the particulars touched 
upon in the report. On all questions connected with the foreign affairs of 
the country, differences of opinion will arise, which will finally terminate 
in whatever way the opinion of the people of this country may so tend as 
to influence their representatives. But, whenever the course of things 
shall be such that a rupture shall unfortunately take place between this 
country and any foreign country (whether France or any other), I take 
this opportunity of saying, that, from that moment, whatever of energy or 
ability^ whatever of influence I may possess in my country, shall be de- 
voted to the carrying on of that war with the utmost vigor which the arms 
and resources of the United States can give to it. I will not anticipate, 
however, such a state of things ; nay, I feel very confident that such a 
ruptuie will not occur between the United States and France. 

With respect to the justice of our claim upon France for payment of 
the indemnity stipulated by the treaty, the report of the committee is in 
entire concurrence with the executive. The opinion of the committee is, 
that the claims stipulated to be paid are founded in justice; that we must 
pursue them ; that we must finally obtain satisfaction for them, and to do 
so must, if necessary, employ such means as the law of nations justifies, and 
the Constitution has placed within our power. On these points there is 
no diversity of sentiment between the committee and the president ; there 
could be no diversity between either the committee or the president and 
any American citizen. 

In all that the president has said of the obligation of the French govern- 
ment to make the stipulated provisions for the claims, the committee en- 
tirely concur. If the president, in his message, after making his statement 



634 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY. 

of the case, had stopped there, and abstained from the recommendation of 
any specific measure, there could not have been possibly any diversity of 
opinion on the subject between him and any portion of the country. But, 
when he declares the confidence which he eutertains in the French govern- 
ment ; when he expresses his conviction that the executive branch of that 
government is honest and sincere in its professions, and recites the promise 
by it of a renewed effort to obtain the passage of a bill of appropriation by 
the French Chambers, it did appear to the committee inconsistent with 
these professions of confidence, that they should be accompanied by the 
recommendation of a measure which could only be authorized by the con- 
viction that no confidence, or at least, not entire confidence, could be placed 
in the declarations and professions of the French government. Confidence 
and distrust are unnatural allies. If we profess confidence anywhere, es- 
pecially if that confidence be but for a limited period, it should be unac- 
companied with any indication whatever of distrust ; a confidence full, free, 
frank. But to say, as the president, through our minister, has said, that he 
will await the issue of the deliberations of the Chambers, confiding in the 
sincerity of the king, and this, too, after hearing of the rejection of the first 
bill of appropriation by the Chambers, and now, at the very moment when 
the Chambers are about deliberating on the subject, to throw. out in a mes- 
sage to Congress what the president himself considered might possibly be 
viewed as a menace, appeared to the committee, with all due deference to 
the executive, and to the high and patriotic purposes which may be sup- 
posed to have induced the recommendation, to be inconsistent to such a 
degree as not to be seconded by the action of Congress. It also appeared 
to the committee, after the distinct recommendation by the president on 
this subject, that there should be some expression of the sense of Congress 
in regard to it. Such an expression is proposed by the resolution riow un- 
der consideration. 

In speculating upon probabilities in regard to the course of the French 
government, in reference to the treaty, four contingences might be sup- 
posed to arise — first, that the French government may have made the ap- 
propriation to carry the treaty into effect before the reception of the 
president's message ; second, the Chambers may make the appropriation 
after the reception of the president's message, and notwithstanding the 
recommendation on this subject contained in it ; third, the Chambers may, 
in consequence of that recommendation, hearing of it before they shall 
have acted finally on the subject, refuse to make any appropriation until 
what they may consider a menace shall have been explained or withdrawn ; 
or fourth, they may, either on that ground, or on the ground of dissatis- 
faction with the provisions of the treaty, refuse to pass the bill of appro- 
priation. Now, in any of these contingences, after what has passed, an 
expression of the sense of Congress on the subject appears to me indispens- 
able, either to the passage of the bill, or the subsequent payment of the 
money, if passed. 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 635 

Suppose the bill to have passed before the reception of the message, 
and the money to be in the French treasury, it would throw upon the king 
a high responsibility to pay the money, unless the recommendation of the 
message should be explained or done away, or at any rate unless a new 
motive to the execution of the treaty should be furnished in the fact that tho 
two Houses of Congress, having considered the subject, had deemed it in- 
expedient to act until the French Chambers should have had an opportunity 
to be heard from. In the second contingency, that of the passage of a bill 
of appropriation after receiving the message, a vote of Congress, as pro- 
posed, would be soothing to the pride of France, and calculated to continue 
that good understanding which it must be the sincere desire of every cit- 
izen of the United States to cultivate with that country. If the Chambers 
shall have passed the bill they will see that though the President of the 
United States, in the prosecution of a just claim, and in the spirit of sus- 
taining the rights of the United States, had been induced to recommend 
the measure of reprisals, yet that a confidence was entertained in both 
branches of Congress that there would be a compliance, on the part of the 
French government, with the pledges it had given, and so forth. In that 
contingency, the expression of such a sentiment by Congress could not 
but have a happy effect. In the other contingency supposed, also, it is 
indispensable that some such measure should be adopted. Suppose the 
bill of appropriation to be rejected, or its passage to be suspended, until 
the Chambers ascertain whether the recommendation by the president is to 
be carried out by the passage of a law by Congress, a resolution like this 
will furnish the evidence desired of the disposition of Congress. 

If, indeed, upon the reception of the president's message the Chambers 
shall have refused to make the appropriation, they will have put themselves 
in the wrong by not attending to the distribution of the powers of this 
government, and informing themselves whether those branches which alone 
can give effect to the president's recommendation, would respond to it. 
But, if they take the other course suggested, that of suspending action on 
the bill until they ascertain whether the legislative department of the gov- 
ernment coincides with the executive in the contingent measure recom- 
mended, they will then find that the president's recommendation — the 
expression of the opinion of one high in authority, indeed, having a strong 
hold on the affections and confidence of the people, wielding the executive 
power of the nation, but still an inchoate act, having no effect whatever 
without the legislative action — had not been responded to by Congress, and 
so forth. Thus under all contingences happening on the other side of the 
water, and adapted to any one of those contingences, the passage of this 
resolution can do no mischief in any event, but is eminently calculated to 
prevent mischief, and to secure the very object which the president doubt- 
less proposed to accomplish by his recommendation. 

I will not now consume any more time of the House by further remarks, 
but will resume my seat with the intimation of my willingness to modify 



636 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the resolution in any manner, not changing its result, which may be calcu- 
lated to secure, what on such an occasion would be so highly desirable, the 
unanimous vote of the Senate in its favor. I believe it, however, all-essen- 
tial that there should be a declaration that Congress do not think it ex- 
pedient, in the present state of the relations between the United States and 
France, to pass any law whatever concerning them. 

[After brief remarks by several other members, the resolution was slightly 
modified and passed by a unanimous vote.] 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEE 

INDIANS, 

IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 4, 1835. 

[Mr. Clay's love of justice was, perhaps, never better exem- 
plified than in his advocacy of the rights of the Cherokee In- 
dians, as set forth in the following sueech. One can not but ad- 
mire such a disinterested and fearless stand for the right. Mr. 
Clay was a public man, and always a candidate — not self-pro- 
pounded, but because he could not help it — for the presidency. 
And should he not fear to offend any one State, whose suffrages 
might be necessary to elect him ? Better, doubtless, that he 
should so impress that State with a sense of his unpurchas- 
able uprightness, of his purity, and of his unyielding love of 
justice. If it should be discovered that he might be bought, he 
would forfeit respect. But such a contingency was never a mat- 
ter of calculation with Mr. Clay. He went into this debate 
purely from the impulses of his heart — of his heart toward the 
poor Indians, and of his heart as it suffered shame for the 
wrongs which had been inflicted on them. Thus were the senat- 
ors from Georgia, thus was the State of Georgia, which they 
represented, rebuked by every word of this speech. The wrongs 
done to the Cherokee Indians by that State could not be vindi- 
cated by any art or special pleading. The Constitution, the 
most solemn treaties, the decree of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and the public conscience of mankind, were 
against the State of Georgia. But she was resolved to carry 
her purpose through, and she found one man, whose ministerial 
office was essential to her, and whose sense of justice was not 
like that of Mr. Clay — Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson was 
the man, who, acting as President of the United States, could 
dispense w T ith a decree of the Supreme Court ; and so he did in 
this very case. The field then was all open to the State of 
Georgia, and she drove out the Cherokees, and divided their 
lands by lottery among her own citizens. It was General Jack- 



638 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

son's policy to remove all the Indians west of the Mississippi ; 
and he succeeded. The poor Indians were forced to turn their 
backs on the graves of their fathers ; and there never was a race 
of men who had stronger affections toward their dead. And 
what will become of the poor Indians next, as the tides of the 
white population roll on to the west, demanding their places ? 
Will the Punic faith which swept them from their ancient 
homes, permit them to stay where they are ? Or will it still 
push them forward, till the waves of the great Pacific shall open 
to them a burying-place, which will never be left behind with 
regret, "because there will be none left to mourn ? The last, 
probably, will have perished before they will reach that bourne. 
What judgments of Heaven will fall on the nation that shall 
have extinguished such a race of men, there is no prophet in- 
spired to declare. The following speech is full of melancholy 
admonitions of national retribution for this species of national 
injustice ; and they are the recorded utterances of a heart that 
deplored the wrongs done, and that feared for the wrong-doers.] 

Mr. Clay held in his hands, and begged leave to present to the Senate, 
certain resolutions and a memorial, to the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States, of a council met at Running Waters, consisting 
of a portion of the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokees have a country — 
if indeed it can he any longei called their country — which is comprised 
within the limits of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. 
They have a population which is variously estimated, but which, according 
to the best information which I possess, amounts to about fifteen thousand 
souls. Of this population, a portion, believed to be much the greater part, 
amounting, as is estimated, to between nine and ten thousand souls, reside 
within the limits of the State of Georgia. The Senate was well aware that 
for several years past it had been the policy of the general government to 
transfer the Indians to the west of the Mississippi river, and that a portion 
of the Cherokees had already availed themselves of this policy of the gov- 
ernment, and emigrated beyond the Mississippi. Of those who remain, a 
portion — a respectable but also an inconsiderable portion — are desirous to 
emigrate to the West, and a much larger portion desire to remain on their 
lands, and lay their bones where rest those of their ancestors. The papers 
which I now present emanate from the minor portion of the Cherokees ; 
from those who are in favor of emigration. They present a case which ap- 
peals strongly to the sympathies of Congress. They say that it is impos- 
sible for them to continue to live under laws which they do not understand, 
passed by authority in which they have no share, promulgated in language 
of which nothing is known to the greater portion of them, and establish- 
ing rules for their government entirely unadapted to their nature, educa- 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEES. G39 

tion, and habits. They say that, destruction is hanging over thern if they 
remain ; that their right of self-government being destroyed, though they 
are sensible of all the privations, hardships, and sufferings of banishment 
from their native homes, they prefer exile, with liberty, to residence in their 
homes, with slavery. They implore, the intervention of the general gov- 
ernment, to provide for their removal west of the Mississippi, and to estab- 
lish guaranties, never hereafter to be violated, of the possession of the 
lands to be acquired by them west of the Mississippi, and of the perpetual 
right of self-government. This was the object of the resolutions and 
petition which he was about to offer to the Senate. 

But I have thought that this occasion was one which called upon me to 
express the opinions and sentiments which I hold in relation to this entire 
subject, as respects not only the emigrating Indians, but those also who are 
desirous to remain at home ; in short, to express, in concise terms, my 
views of the relations between the Indian tribes and the people of the 
United States, the rights of both parties, and the duties of this government 
in regard to them. 

The rights of the Indians were to be ascertained, in the first place, by 
the solemn stipulations of numerous treaties made with them by the United 
States. It was not his purpose to call the attention of the Senate to all 
the treaties which had been made with Indian tribes bearing on this par- 
ticular topic ; but he felt constrained to ask the attention of the Senate to 
some portions of those treaties which have been made with the Cherokees, 
and to the memorable treaty of Greenville, which had terminated the war 
that previously thereto for many years raged between the United States 
and the north-western Indian tribes. lie found, upon consulting the col- 
lection of Indian treaties in his hand, that within the last half century 
fourteen different treaties had been concluded with the Cherokees, the first 
of which bore date in the year 1775, and some one or more of which had 
been concluded under every administration of the general government, from 
the beginning of it to the present time, except the present administration, 
and that which immediately preceded it. The treaty of Hopewell, the first 
in the series, was concluded in 1775, in the third article of which "the said 
Indians, for themselves and their respective tribes and towns, do acknowl- 
edge all the Cherokees to be under the protection of the United States of 
America, and of no other sovereign whatsoever." The fifth article of the 
same treaty provides, that " if any citizen of the United States, or other 
person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands 
westward or southward of the said boundary, which are hereby allotted to 
the Indians for their hunting-grounds, or, having already settled, and will 
not remove from the same within six months after the ratification of this 
treaty, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the 
Indians may punish him or not, as they please ; provided, nevertheless, that 
this article shall not extend to the people settled between the fork of French 
Broad and Holston rivers," and so forth. 



640 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

The next treaty in the series, which was concluded after the establish- 
ment of the government of the United States, under the auspices of the 
father of his country, was in the year 1791, on the bank of the Holston, 
and contains the following provision : " Article 1. The United States 
solemnly guaranty to the Cherokee nation all their lands not hereby ceded." 
This, Mr. Clay said, was not an ordinary assurance of protection, and so 
forth, but a solemn guaranty of the rights of the Cherokees to the land in 
question. The next treaty to which he would call the attention of the 
Senate was concluded in 1794, also under the auspices of General Wash- 
ington, and declares as follows : " The undersigned, Henry Knox, Secretary 
for the Department of War, being authorized thereto by the President of 
the United States, in behalf of the said United States, and the undersigned 
chiefs and warriors, in their own names, and in behalf of the whole 
Cherokee nation, are desirous of re-establishing peace and friendship 
between the said parties in a permanent manner, do hereby declare, that 
the said treaty of Holston is, to all intents and purposes, in full force, 
and binding upon the said parties, as well in respect to the boundaries 
therein mentioned as in all other respects whatever." This treaty, it is 
seen, renews the solemn guaranty contained in the preceding treaty, and 
declares it to be binding and obligatory upon the parties in all respects 
whatever. Again, in another treaty, concluded in 1798, under the second 
chief magistrate of the United States, we find the following stipulations : 
"Article 2. The treaties subsisting between the present contracting parties 
are acknowledged to be of full and operating force; together with the 
construction and usage under their respective articles, and so to continue." 
"Article 3. The limits and boundaries of the Cherokee nation, as stipu- 
lated and marked by the existing treaties between the parties, shall be and 
remain the same, where not altered by the present treaty." 

There were other provisions, in other treaties, to which, if he did not 
intend to take up as little time as possible of the Senate, he might ad- 
vantageously call their attention. He would, however, pass on to one of 
the last treaties with the Cherokees, which was concluded in the year 
1817. That treaty recognized the difference existing between the two 
portions of the Cherokees, one of which was desirous to remain at home 
and prosecute the good work of civilization, in which they had made some 
progress, and the other portion was desirous to go beyond the Mississippi. 
In that treaty, the fifth article, after several other stipulations, concludes as 
follows : "And it is further stipulated, that the treaties heretofore made be- 
tween the Cherokee nation and the United States are to continue in full 
force with both parts of the nation, and both parts thereof entitled to all the 
privileges and immunities which the old nation enjoyed under the aforesaid 
treaties ; the United States reserving the right of establishing factories, a 
military post, and roads, within the boundaries above defined." And to 
this treaty, thus emphatically renewing the recognition of the rights of 
the Indians, is signed the name, as one of the commissioners of the United 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEES. 641 

States who negotiated it, of the present chief magistrate of the United 
States. . % 

These were the stipulations in treaties with the Cherokee nation, to which 
Mr. Clay said, he thought proper to call the attention of the Senate. He 
would now turn to the treaty of Greenville, concluded about forty years 
ago, recognizing some general principles applicable to this subject. Mr. 
Clay then quoted the fifth article of that treaty, as follows : " To prevent 
any misunderstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the Uiited 
States in the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared, that the meaning 
of that relinquishment is this : the Indian tribes who have a right to those 
lands are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting, or dwelling thereon so 
long as they please, without any molestation from the United States ; but 
when those tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or 
any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States ; and until 
such sale the United States will protect all the said Indian tribes in the 
quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens of the United States, and 
against all other white persons who intrude upon the same. And the said 
Indian tribes again acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of 
the said United States, and no other power whatever." 

Such, sir, are the rights of the Indian tribes. And what are those 
rights ? They are, that the Indians shall live under their own customs 
and laws; that they shall live upon their own lands, hunting, planting, 
and dwelling thereon so long as they please, without interruption or mo- 
lestation of any sort from the white people of the United States, acknowl- 
edging themselves under the protection of the United States, and of no 
other power whatever ; that when they no longer wish to keep the lands, 
they shall sell them only to the United States, whose government thus se- 
cures to itself the pre-emptive right of purchase in them. These rights, so 
secured by successive treaties and guaranties, have also been recognized 
on several occasions, by the highest judicial tribunals. Mr. Clay here 
quoted, from an opinion of the Supreme Court, a passage, declaring that 
the Indians are acknowledged to have an unquestionable and heretofore 
unquestioned right to their land, until it shall be extinguished by voluntary 
cession to this government. 

But it is not at home alone that the rights of the Indians within the 
limits of the Uuited States have been recognized. Not only has the ex- 
ecutive, the Congress of the United States, and the Supreme Court, recog- 
nized these rights, but in one of the most important epochs of this govern- 
ment, and on one of the most solemn occasions in our intercourse with 
foreign powers, these rights of the Indian tribes have been acknowledged. 
You, sir (addressing the President of the Senate), will understand me at 
once to refer to the negotiation between the government of Great Britain 
and that of the United States, which had for its object the termination of 
the late war between the two countries. Sir, it must be within your recol- 
lection, and that of every member of the Senate, that the hinge upon which 

41 



642 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

that negotiation turned, and the ground upon which it was for a long 
time apprehended that the conference between the commissioners would 
terminate in a rupture of the negotiation between the two countries, was 
the claim brought forward, on that memorable occasion, by Great Britain, 
in behalf of the Indians within the limits of the United States. It will be 
recollected that she advanced, as a principle from which she could not re- 
cede, as a sine qua non, again and again, during the progress of the 
negotiation, that the Indians, as her allies, should be included in the 
treaty of peace which the negotiators were about forming; that they 
should have a permanent boundary assigned them, and that neither 
Great Britain nor the United States should be at liberty to purchase their 
lands. 

Such were the pretensions urged on that occasion, which the commis- 
sioners of the United States had felt it to be their imperative duty to 
resist. To establish as the boundary the line of the treaty of Greenville, 
as proposed, which would have excluded from the benefit of American 
laws and privileges a population of not less than a hundred thousand of 
the inhabitants of Ohio, American citizens, entitled to the protection of 
the government, was a proposition which the American negotiators could 
not for a moment entertain ; they would not even refer it to their govern- 
ment, though assured that it would there meet with the same unanimous 
rejection that it did from them. But it became a matter of some import- 
ance that a satisfactory assurance should be given to Great Britain, that 
the war, which we were about to bring to a conclusion with her, should 
close also with her allies ; and what was that assurance ? Mr. Clay said 
he would not trouble the Senate with tracing the whole account of that 
negotiation, but he begged leave to call their attention to one of the pas- 
sages of it. You will find on examining the history of the negotiation, 
that the demand brought forward by the British government through their 
minister, on this occasion, was the subject of several argumentative papers. 
Toward the close of this correspondence, reviewing the course pursued 
toward the aborigines by the several European powers which had planted 
colonies in America, comparing it with that of the United States, and con- 
trasting the lenity, kindness, and forbearance of the United States, with 
the rigor and severity of other powers, the American negotiators expressed 
themselves as follows : 

" From the rigor of this system, however, as practiced by Great Britain, 
and all the other European powers in America, the humane and liberal 
policy of the United States has voluntarily relaxed. A celebrated writer 
on the law of nations, to whose authority British jurists have taken particu- 
lar satisfaction in appealing, after stating, in the most explicit manner, the 
legitimacy of colonial settlements in America, to the exclusion of all rights 
of uncivilized Indian tribes, has taken occasion to praise the first settlers of 
New England, and of the founder of Pennsylvania, in having purchased of 
Indians the land they resolved to cultivate, notwithstanding their being 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEES. 643 

furnished with a charter from their sovereign. It is this example which 
the United States, since they became by their independence the sovereigns 
of the territory, have adopted and organized into a political system. Under 
that system the Indians residing in the United States are so far independ- 
ent, that they live under their own customs, and not under the laws of the 
United States ; that their rights upon the lands where they inhabit or hunt 
are secured to them by boundaries defined in amicable treaties between the 
United States and themselves ; and that whenever those boundaries are 
varied, it is also by amicable and voluntary treaties, by which they receive 
from the United States ample compensation for every right they have to 
the lands ceded by them," and so forth. 

The correspondence was further continued ; and, finally, the commission- 
ers on the part of Great Britain proposed an article to which the American 
commissioners assented, the basis of which is, a declaration of what is the 
state of the law between the Indian tribes and the people of the United 
States. They then proposed a further article which declared that the 
United States should endeavor to restore peace to the Indians who had 
acted on the side of Great Britain, together with all the rights, possessions, 
privileges, and immunities which they possessed prior to the year 1811, 
that is, antecedently to the war between England and the United States ; 
in consideration that Great Britain would terminate the war, so far as res- 
pected the Indians who had been allies of the United States, and restore to 
them all the rights privileges, possessions, and immunities which these 
also had enjoyed previously to the same period. Mr. President, I here 
state my solemn belief, that if the American commissioners had not de- 
clared the laws between the Indians and the people of this country, and 
the rights of the Indians to be such as they are stated to be in the extracts 
I have read to the Senate ; if they had then stated that any one State of 
this Union who happened to have Indians residing wdthin its limits, pos- 
sessed the riidit of extending over them the laws of such State, and of 
taking their lands, when and how it pleased, that the effect would have 
been a prolongation of the war. I again declare my most solemn belief 
that Great Britain, who assented with great reluctance to this mutual stip- 
ulation with respect to the Indians, never would have done it at all, but 
under a conviction of the correspondence of those principles of Indian in- 
ternational law (if I may use such a phrase) with those which the United 
States government had respected ever since the period of our independ- 
ence. 

Sir, if I am right in this, let me ask whether in adopting the new code 
which now prevails, and by which the rights of the Indians have been 
trampled on, and the most solemn obligations of treaties have been disre- 
garded, we are not chargeable with having induced that power to conclude 
a peace with us by suggestions utterly unfounded and erroneous ? 

Most of the treaties between the Cherokee nation of Indians and the 
United States have been submitted to the Senate for ratification, and the 



644 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Senate have acted upon them in conformity with their constitutional power. 
Besides the action of the Senate, as a legislative body, in the enactment of 
laws in conformity with their stipulations, regulating the intercourse of our 
citizens with that nation, it has acted in its separate character, and con- 
firmed the treaties themselves by the constitutional majority of two thirds 
of its members. Thus have those treaties been sanctioned by the govern- 
ment of the United States, and by every branch of that government ; by 
the Senate, the executive, and the Supreme Court ; both at home and 
abroad. But not only have the rights of the Cherokees received all these 
recognitions ; they have been, by implication, recognized by the State of 
Georgia itself, in the act of 1802, in which she stipulated that the govern- 
ment of the United States, and not the State of Georgia, should extinguish 
the Indian title to land within her limits ; and the general government has 
been, from time to time, urged by Georgia to comply with its engagement 
from that period until the adoption of the late new policy upon this subject. 

Having thus, Mr President, stated, as I hope with clearness, the rights of 
Indian tribes, as recognized by the most solemn acts that can be entered 
into by any government, let me, in the next place, inquire into the nature 
of the injuries which have been inflicted upon them; in other words, into 
the present condition of these Cherokees, to whom protection had been 
assured as well by solemn treaties as by the laws and guaranties of the 
United States government. 

And here let me be permitted to say, that I go into this subject with 
feelings which no language at my command will enable me adequately to 
express. I assure the Senate, and in an especial manner do I assure the 
honorable senators from Georgia, that my wish and purpose are any other 
than to excite the slightest possible irritation on the part of any human 
being. Far from it. I am actuated only by feelings of grief, feelings of 
sorrow, and of profound regret, irresistibly called forth by a contemplation 
of the miserable condition to which these unfortunate people have been 
reduced by acts of legislation proceeding from one of the States of this 
confederacy. I again assure the honorable senators from Georgia, that, 
if it has become my painful duty to comment upon some of these acts, I do 
it not with any desire to place them, or the State they represent, in an in- 
vidious position ; but because Georgia was, I believe, the first in the career, 
the object of which seems to be the utter annihilation of every Indian right, 
and because she has certainly, in the promotion of it, far outstripped every 
other State in the Union. 

I have not before me the various acts of the State in reference to the 
Indians within her bounds ; and it is possible I may be under some mis- 
take in reference to them ; and if I am, no one will correct the error more 
readily, or with greater pleasure. 

If, however, I had all those laws in my hands, I should not now attempt 
to read them. Instead of this, it will be sufficient for me to state the 
effects which have been produced by them upon the condition of the Cher- 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEES. 645 

okee Indians residing in that State. And here follows a list of what has 
been done by her Legislature. Her first act was to abolish the government 
of these Cherokees. No human community can exist without a govern- 
ment of some kind ; and the Cherokees, imitating our example, and hav- 
ing learned from us something of the principles of a free Constitution, 
established for themselves a government somewhat resembling our own. 
It is quite immaterial to us what its form was. They always had had some 
government among them ; and we guarantied to them the right of living 
under their own laws and customs, unmolested by any one ; insomuch that 
our own citizens were outlawed should they presume to interfere with them. 
What particular regulations they adopted, in the management of their 
humble and limited concerns, is a matter with which we have no concern. 
However, the very first act of the Georgia Legislature was, to abolish all 
government of every sort among these people, and to extend the laws and 
government of the State of Georgia over them. The next step was to 
divide their territory into counties ; the next, to survey the Cherokee land ; 
and the last, to distribute this laud among the citizens of Georgia by lot- 
tery, giving to every head of a family one ticket, and the prize in land 
that should be drawn against it. To be sure there were many reservations 
for the heads of Indian families ; and of how much did gentlemen sup- 
pose ? of one hundred and sixty acres only, and this to include their im- 
provements. But even to this limited possession the poor Indian was to 
have no fee-simple title ; he was to hold as a mere occupant, at the will of 
the State of Georgia, for just as long or as short a time as she might think 
proper. The laws at the same time gave him no one political right, what- 
ever. He could not become a member of the State Legislature, nor could 
he hold any office under State authority, nor could he vote as an elector. 
He possessed not one single right of a freeman : no ; not even the poor 
privilege of testifying to his wrongs in the character of a witness in the 
courts of Georgia, or in any matter of controversy whatsoever. 

These, Mr. President, are the acts of the Legislature of the State of 
Georgia, in relation to the Indians. They were not all passed at one ses- 
sion ; they were enacted, time after time, as the State advanced further and 
further in her steps to the acquisition of the Indian country, and the de- 
struction and annihilation of all Indian rights ; until, by a recent act of the 
same body, the courts of the State itself are occluded against the Indian 
sufferer, aud he is actually denied an appeal even to foreign tribunals, in 
the erection and in the laws of which he had no voice, there to complain 
of his wrongs. If he enters the hall of Georgia's justice, it is upon a sur- 
render at the threshold of all his rights. The history of this last law, to 
which I have alluded, is this : when the previous law of the State dividing 
the Indian lands by lottery was passed, some Indians made an appeal to 
one of the judges of the State, and applied for an injunction against the 
proceeding ; and such was the undeniable justice of their plea, that the 
judge found himself unable to refuse it, and he granted the injunction 



646 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

sought. It was that injunction which led to the passage of this act ; to 
some of the provisions of which I now invite the attention of the Senate. 
And first to the title of the act ; " a hill to amend an act entitled an act 
more effectually to provide for the government and protection of the Cher- 
okee Indians residing within the limits of Georgia, and to prescrihe the 
hounds of tlu-ir occupant claims ; and also to authorize grants to issue for 
lots drawn in the late land and gold lotteries" — ah, sir, it was the pursuit 
of gold which led the Spanish invader to desolate the fair fields of Mexico 
and Peru — ''and to provide for the appointment of an agent to carry cer- 
tain parts thereof into execution ; and to fix the salary of such agent, and 
to punish those persons who may deter Indians from enrolling for emigra- 
tion, passed the 20th of December, 1833." Well, sir, this bill goes on to 
provide, " that it shall be the duty of the agent or agents appoint- d by his 
excellency the governor, under the authority of this or the act of which 
it is amendatory, to report to him the number, district, and section of all 
lots of land subject to be granted by the provisions of said act, which he 
may be required to do by the drawer, or his agent, or the person claiming 
the same; and it shall be the duty of his excellency the governor, upon 
the application of the drawer of any of the aforesaid lots, his or her special 
agents, or the person to whom the drawer may have bond fide conveyed 
the same, his agent or assigns, to issue a grant therefor; and it shall be 
the duty of the said agent or agents, upon the pro luction of the grant so 
issued as aforesaid by the grantor, his or her agent, or the person, or his 
or her agent to whom said land bo granted as aforesaid may have been 
bond fide conveyed, to deliver possession of said granted lot to the said 
grantee, or person entitled to the | ss ssion of the same under the provis- 
ions of this act, or the act of which this is amendatory, and his excellency 
the o-overnor is hereby authorized, upon satisfactory evidence that the said 
agent is impeded or resisted in delivering such possession, by a force which 
he can not overcome, to order out a sufficient force to carry the power of 
said agent or agents fully into effect, and to pay the expenses of the same 
out of the contingent fund ; provided nothing in this act shall be so con- 
strued as to require the interference of the said agent between two or more 
individuals claiming possession, by virtue of titles derived from a grant 
from the State to any lot." 

Thus, after the State of Georgia had distributed the lands of the Indi- 
ans by lottery, and the drawers of prizes were authorized to receive grants 
of the land drawn, and with these grants in their hand were authorized to 
demand of the agent of the State, appointed for the purpose, to be put in 
possession of the soil thus obtained ; and if any resistance to their entry 
should be made — and who was to make it but a poor Indian? — the governor 
is empowered to turn out the military force of the State, and enable the 
agent to take possession by force, without trial, without judgment, and 
without investigation. 

But, should there be two claimants of the prize, should two of the ticket- 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEE3. 647 

holders dispute their claim to the same lot, then no military force was to 
be used. It was only when the resistance was by an Indian — it was only 
when Indian rights should come into collision with the alleged rights of 
the State of Georgia — that the strong hand of military power wa~ instantly 
to interpose. 

The next section of the act is in these words : " and be it further enacted 
by the authority aforesaid, that if any person dispossessed of a lot of land 
under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, shall go before a 
justice of the peace or of the inferior court, and make affidavit that be or 
she was not liable to be dispossessed under or by any of the provisions of 
this or the aforesaid act, and file said affidavit in the clerk's office of the 
Superior Court of the county in which said land shall lie, such person upon 
giving bond and security in the clerk's office for the costs to accrue on the 
trial, shall be permitted within ten days from such dispossessing to enter 
an appeal to said Superior Cou.t and at said court the judge shall cause an 
issue to be made up between the appellant and the person to whom pos- 

don of said land was delivered by either of said agents, which said issue 
shall be in the following form." 

[Mr. Cuthbert, of Georgia, here interposed : and having obtained Mr. Clay's 
consent to explain, stated that he had unfortunately not been in the Senate 
when the honorable senator commenced his speech ; but had learned that it was 
in support of a memorial from certain Cherokee Indians in the State of Georgia, 
who desired to emigrate. He must be permitted to say, that the current of the 
honorable senator's remarks did not suit remarkably well the subject of such a 
memorial. A memorial of a different kind had been presented, and which the 
committee on Indian affairs had before it, to which the senator's remarks would 
better apply. The present discussion was wholly unexpected, and it seemed to 
him not in consistency with the object of the memorial he had presented.] 

Mr. Clay replied, that he was truly sorry the honorable gentleman had 
been absent when he commenced speaking. He had delayed presenting 
the memorial, because he observed that neither of the senators from 
Georgia was in his seat, until the hour when they might be expected to be 
present, and when one of them (Mr. King), had actually taken his seat. 
If the honorable senator had been present he would have heard Mr. Clay 
say that he thought the presentation of the memorial a fit occasion to ex- 
press his sentiments, not only touching the rights of these individual peti- 
tioners, but on the rights of all the Indian tribes, and their relations to this 
government. And if he would have but a little patience he would find 
that it was Mr. Clay's intention to present propositions which went to em- 
brace both resolutions. 

Mr. Clay now resumed the course of his speech. And here, Mr. Presi- 
dent, let me pause, and invite the attention of the Senate to the provision 
in the act of Georgia which I was reading (the substance of which Mr. 
Clay here repeated), that is, that he may have the privilege of an appeal 
to a tribunal of justice by forms and by a bond with the nature and force 



648 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of which he is unacquainted ; and that then he may have — what beside ? 
I invoke the attention of the Senate to this part of the law. What, I ask, 
does it secure to the Indian ? His rights ? the rights recognized by 
treaties ? the rights guarantied to him by the most solemn acts which 
human governments can perform ? No. It allows him to come into the 
courts of the State, and there to enjoy the benefit of the summary pro- 
ceeding called in the act " an appeal," but which can never be continued 
beyond a second term ; and when he comes there, what then ? He shall 
be permitted to come into court and enter an appeal, which shall he in the 
following form : 

" A. B., who was dispossessed of a lot of land by an agent of the State of 
Georgia, comes into court, and, admitting the right of the State of Georgia to 
pass the law under which agent acted, avers that he was not liable to be dispos- 
sessed of said land, by or under any one of the provisions of the act of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Georgia, passed the 20th of December, 1833, 'more effectually 
to provide for the protection of the Cherokee Indians residing within the limits 
of Georgia, and to prescribe the bounds of their occupant claims, and also to 
authorize grants to issue for lots drawn in the land and gold lotteries in certain 
cases, and to provide for the appointment of an agent to carry certain parts 
thereof into execution, and fix the salary of such agent, and to punish those 
persons who may deter Indians from enrolling for emigration,' or the act amend- 
atory thereof, passed at the session of the Legislature of 1834 : 'in which issue 
the person to whom possession of said land was delivered shall join ; and which 
issue shall constitute the entire pleading's between the parties ; nor shall the 
court allow any matter other than is contained in said issue to be placed upon 
the record or files of said court ; and said cause shall be tried at the first term 
of the court, unless good cause shall be shown for a continuance, ar.d the same 
party shall not be permitted to continue said cause more than once, except for 
unavoidable providential cause ; nor shall said court at the instance of either 
party pass any order or grant any injunction to stay said cause, nor permit to 
be engrafted on said cause any other proceedings, whatever.' " 

At the same time we find, by another enactment, the judges of the 
courts of Georgia are restrained from granting injunctions, so that the only 
form in which the Indian can come before them is in the form of an ap- 
peal ; and in this, the very first step is an absolute renunciation of the 
rights he holds by treaty, and the unqualified admission of the rights of his 
antagonist, as conferred by the laws of Georgia ; and the court is expressly 
prohibited from putting any thing else upon the record. Why ? do we not 
all know the reason ? If the poor Indian was allowed to put in a plea 
6tatiiui; his rights, and the court should then decide against him, the cause 
would go upon an appeal to the Supreme Court ; the decision could he re- 
examined, could be annulled, and the authority of treaties vindicated. 
But, to prevent this, to make it impossible, he is compelled, on entering 
the court, to renounce his Indian rights, and the court is forbidden to put 
any thing on record which can bring up a decision upon them. 

Mr. President, I have already stated that, in the observations I have 



ON OUR RELATION'S "WITH THE CHEROKEES. 649 

made, I am actuated by no other feelings than such as ought to be in the 
breast of every honest man, the feelings of common justice. I would say 
nothing, I would whisper nothing, I would insinuate nothing, I would think 
nothing, which can, in the remotest degree, cause irritation in the mind of 
any one, of any senator here, of any State in this Union ; I have too much 
respect for every member of the confederacy. I feel nothing but grief for 
the wretched condition of these most unfortunate people, and every emotion 
of my bosom dissuades me from the use of epithets that might raise emo- 
tions which should draw the attention of the Senate from the justice of 
their claims. I forbear to apply to this law any epithet of any kind. Sir, 
no epithet is needed. The features of the law itself; its warrant for the 
interposition of military power, when no trial and no judgment has been 
allowed ; its denial of any appeal, unless the unhappy Indian shall first re- 
nounce his own rights, and admit the rights of his opponent ; features such 
as these are enough to show wdiat the true character of the act is, and su- 
persede the necessity of all epithets, were I even capable of applying any. 

The Senate will thus perceive that the whole power of the State of 
Georgia, military as well as civil, has been made to bear upon these In- 
dians, without their having any voice in forming, judging ujion, or execut- 
ing the laws under which he is placed, and without even the poor privilege 
of establishing the injury he may have suffered, by Indian evidence ; nay, 
worse still, not even by the evidence of a white man ! Because the renun- 
ciation of his rights precludes all evidence, white or black, civilized or 
savage. There then he lies, with his property, his rights, and every priv- 
ilege which makes human existence desirable, at the mere mercy of the 
State of Georgia; a State, in whose government or laws he has no voice. 
Sir, it is impossible for the most active imagination to conceive a condition 
of human society more perfectly wretched. Shall I be told that the con- 
dition of the African slave is worse ? No, sir ; no, sir. It is not worse. 
The interest of the master makes it at once his duty and his inclination, to 
provide fur the comfort and the health of his slave ; for without these, he 
would be unprofitable. Both pride and interest render the master prompt 
in vindicating the rights of his slave, and protecting him from the oppres- 
sion of others : and the laws secure to him the amplest means to do so. 
But who, what human being, stands in the relation of master or any other 
relation, which makes him interested in the preservation and protection of 
the poor Indian thus degraded and miserable \ Thrust out from human 
society, without the sympathies of an}', and placed without the pale of 
common justice, who is there to protect him, or to defend his rights \ 

Such, Mr. President, is the present condition of these Cherokee memo- 
rialists, whose case it is my duty to submit to the consideration of the 
Senate. There remains but one more inquiry before I conclude. Is there 
any remedy within the scope of the powers of the federal government, as 
given by the Constitution? If we are without power, if we have no con- 
stitutional authority, then we are also without responsibility. Our regrets 



650 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

may be excited, our sympathies may be moved, our humanity may be 
shocked, our hearts may be grieved, but if our hands are tied, we can 
only unite with all the good, the Christian, the benevolent portion of the 
human family, in deploring what we can not prevent. 

But, sir, we are not thus powerless. I stated to the Senate, when I be- 
gan, that there are two classes of the Cherokees : one of these classes de- 
sires to emigrate, and it was their petition I presented this morning ; and 
with respect to these, our powers are ample to afford them the most liberal 
and effectual relief. They wish to go beyond the Mississippi, and to be 
guarantied in the possession of the country which may be there assigned 
to them. As the Congress of the United States have full powers over the 
Territories, we may give to them all the guaranty which Congress can ex- 
press, for the undisturbed possession of their lands. With respect to their 
case, there can be no question as to our powers. 

And then, as to those who desire to remain on this side of the river, I 
ask, again, are we powerless ? Can we afford them no redress ? Must we 
sit still and see the injury they suffer, and extend no hand to relieve ihem? 
It were strange, indeed, were such the case. Why have we guarantied to 
them the enjoyment of their own laws ? Why have we pledged to them 
protection ? Why have we assigned them limits of territory ? Why have 
we declared that they shall enjoy their homes in peace, without molestation 
from any ? If the United States government has contracted these serious 
obligations, it ought, before the Indians were reduced by our assurances to 
rely upon our engagement, to have explained to them its want of authority 
to make the contract. Before we pretend to Great Britain, to Europe, to 
the civilized world, that such were the rights we would secure to the In- 
dians, we ought to have examined the extent and the grounds of our own 
rights to do so. But is such, indeed, our situation ? No, sir. Georgia 
has shut her courts against these Indians. What is the remedy ? To open 
ours. Have we not the right ? What says the Constitution ? " The ju- 
dicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity, arising under this 
Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which 
shall be made, under their authority." 

But here was a case of conflict between the rights of the proprietors and 
the local laws ; and here was the very case which the Constitution con- 
templated, when it declared that the power of the federal judiciary should 
extend to all cases under the authority of the United States. Therefore, 
it was fully within the competence of Congress, under the provisions of 
the Constitution, to provide the manner iu which the Cherokees might 
have their rights decided, because a grant of the means was included in 
the grant of jurisdiction. It was competent, then, for Congress to decide 
whether the Cherokees had a right to come into a court of justice and to 
make an appeal to the highest authority, to sustain the solemn treaties 
under which their rights had been guarantied, and in the sacred character 
of which they had reposed their confidence. And if Congress possessed 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEES. 651 

the power to extend relief to the Indians, were they not bound, l>y the 
most sacred of human considerations, the obligations of treaties, the pro- 
tection assured them, by every Christian tie, every benevolent feeling, every 
humane impulse of the human heart, to extend it? If they were to fail 
to do this, and there was, as reason and revelation declared there was, a 
tribunal of eternal justice, to which all human power was amenable, how 
could they, if they refused to perform their dulies to this injured and op- 
pressed, though civilized race, expect to escape the visitations of that divine 
vengeance which none would be permitted to avoid, who had committed 
wrong, or done injustice to others? 

At this moment, when the United States were urging on the govern- 
ment of France the fulfillment of the obligations of the treaty concluded 
with that country, to the execution of which it was contended that France 
had plighted her sacred faith, what strength, what an irresistible force 
would be given to our plea, if we could say to France that in all instances, 
we had completely fulfilled all our engagements, and that we had adhered 
faithfully to every obligation which we had contracted, no matter whether 
it was entered into with a powerful or a weak people ; if we could say to 
her, that we had complied with all our engagements to others, that we now 
came before her, always acting right as we had done, to induce her also 
to fulfill her obligations to us. How should we stand in the eyes of France 
and of the civilized world, if we, in spite of the most solemn treaties, which 
had existed for half a century, and had been recognized in every form, 
and by every branch of the government ; how would they be justified, if 
they suffered these treaties to be trampled under foot, and the rights which 
they were to secure, trodden into the dust? How would great Britain, 
after the solemn understanding, entered into with her at Ghent, feel, after 
such a breach of faith ? And how could he, as a commissioner on the 
negotiation of that treaty, hold up his head before Great Britain, after 
having been thus made an instrument of fraud and deception, as he assur- 
edly would have been, if the rights of the Indians are to be thus violated, 
and the treaties by which they were secured, violated ? How could he 
hold up his head, after such a violation of rights, and say that he was 
proud of his country, of which they all must wish to be proud ? 

For himself, he rejoiced that he had been spared, and allowed a suitable 
opportunity to present his views and opinions, on this great national sub- 
ject, so interesting to the national character of the country for justice and 
equity. He rejoiced that the voice which, without charge of presumption 
or arrogance, he might say, was ever raised in defense of the oppressed of 
the human species, had been heard in defense of this most oppressed of all. 
To him, in that awful hour of death, to which all must come, and which, 
with respect to himself, eould not be very far distant, it would be a source 
of the highest consolation, that an opportunity had been found by him, 
on the floor of the Senate, in the discharge of his official duty, to pro- 
nounce his views on a course of policy marked by such wrongs as were 



652 SrEECHES OF henry clay. 

calculated to arrest the attention of every one, and that he had raised his 
humble voice, and pronounced his solemn protest, against such wrongs. 

lie would no longer detain tlie Senate, but would submit the following 
propositions. 

Resolved, that the commitee on the judiciary be directed to inquire into the 
expediency of making further provision, by law, to enable Indian nations or 
tribes, to whose use and occupancy lands are secured by treaties concluded be- 
tween them and the United States, to defend and maintain their rights to' such 
lands, in the courts of the United States, in conformity with the Constitution of 
the United States. 

Resolved, that the committee on Indian affairs be directed to inquire into the 
expediency of making further provisions, by law, for setting apart a district of 
country west of the Mississippi river, for such of the Cherokee nation as may be 
disposed to emigrate and to occupy the same, and for securing, in perpetuity, 
the peaceful and undisturbed enjoyment thereof, to the emigrants and their de- 
scendants. 

Mr. Clay moved that the memorial and resolutions adopted by the 
council of the Running Waters, be referred to the committee on Indian 
affairs, and printed. 

As to his resolutions, he knew, that in the regular order of business, they 
could not be taken up until to-morrow, but, if it met with the approbation 
of the Senate, he would be as well disposed to act on them to-day as to- 
morrow. 

In reply to Mr. Cuthbert, of Georgia, and Mr. White, of Tennessee, Mr. 
Clay said he could assure the honorable senator from Georgia, that nothing 
was further from his purpose, than to make any display on this occasion. 
That he always left to others, and by the judgment of the Senate he was 
willing to abide, whether the honorable senator himself had not been guilty 
of that which he imputed to others. For, after addressing the Senate, 
himself, some time, he had said that he did not intend arguing the question, 
that Georgia would not appear before the Senate or any other tribunal. 
Now, Georgia might be content to do that, but could Congress, could hon- 
orable senators, reconcile it with their duty, with their responsibility to 
coldly contemplate the violation of numerous treaties, to witness ihe 
destruction of a people under the protection of the United States, and 
to let that injustice which had been inflicted on these unfortunate Chero- 
kees, be perpetuated without the slightest notice on their part? 

The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. White) had remarked, that they 
were all unconstitutional treaties ; that they had no binding force as 
treaties; that General Washington was mistaken; that every succeeding 
administration was mistaken; that General Jackson himself was mis" 
taken, in 1817, in regard to these treaties. Now, if they gave the 
argument of the honorable senator from Tennessee its full force, what 
was the consequence? What did he (Mr. Clay) offer? He said, merely 
to open the question to the court. If they had no validity, if the 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEES. 653 

question which was sent to the judiciary did not rest upon treaties, they 
could vindicate no rights under them. Why had Georgia, if she believed 
there were no treaties, made provisions in her late act to which he had re- 
ferred ? Why shut out the rights of the Indians under the treaty ? Why, 
if she was couviuced of the unconstitutionality of the treaties, did she not 
allow them to be submitted to the federal judiciary, which was bound to 
declare that they were not obligatory and binding, if unconstitutionaU 
Why has she studiously precluded the possibility of a review, in the Su- 
preme Court, of the decisions of the local tribunals? But the gentleman 
had told the Senate, that the treaty of '91 was the first that guarantied to 
the Cherokees their lands, and that President Washington doubted whether 
it was necessary to submit it to the Senate. It might be true, at the com- 
mencement of the government, when every thing was new and unfixed, 
that there were doubts ; but General Washington decided that it was a 
treaty, and laid it, with his doubts, before the Senate, who decided them, ' 
and the treaty was ratified by and with the consent of the Senate. And 
from that day those doubts have remained dispelled. He was indebted 
to the honorable senator for the historical fact which he (Mr. Clay) 
had not before pressed, that this very guaranty which secured to the 
Indians the undisturbed possession of their lands in the treaty of '91, was 
inserted by the express direction of the father of his country. And the 
Senate was called upon now, not merely to violate the solemn obliga- 
tions which the whole nation had contracted, but to violate the provision 
which had been inserted at the instance of the venerated father of his 
country ! 

The honorable senator had told this body, that the treaty of '91 was the 
first in which there was any guaranty. If the gentleman meant to say it 
was the first in which there was any express guaranty, he (Mi'. Clay) 
would admit it. But, in the treaty of '85, if it was not expressed, was it 
not implied ? What was that clause, marking the boundaries of their ter- 
ritory ? That, in the same treaty, which places the Indians under the pro- 
tection of the United States, and excludes them from the authority of any 
other sovereign ? And that which outlaws citizens of the United States 
who intrude in their territory ? What was the meaning of those clauses, if 
they did not, by implication at least, guaranty their rights, their property, 
and the peace of their country ? But, the gentleman says, that in insert- 
ing the guaranty of '91, there was a mistake ; it was supposed that it was 
without the limits of North Carolina, and other States; a mistake which 
ran through all the treaties from that time down to 1817, which renewed 
and enforced the pre-existing treaties. So that General Jackson himself 
had been acting under a mistake when he signed the treaty of 1817. Is 
it possible, that, if a mistake were committed as early as 1791, it would 
not have been corrected in some of the various treaties negotiated as late as 
1817? 

The senator had said also, that the States had a right to extend their 



654 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

laws over all the territories and people within their limits, as defined by 
the treaty of '83. Why, that was the very ques!ion under consideration, 
the identical question to be submitted to the judiciary. He (Mr. Clay) 
contended that the States had no right to extend their laws over that por- 
tion of the territory assigned to the Indians, or over the Indians dwelling 
upon it. And that is the exact question which his resolution proposes to 
be submitted to the determination of the judiciary, and which the late act 
of Georgia carefully shuns. 

But the senator from Tennessee had asked, " What will the poor Indian, 
■with his six hundred and forty acres of land, do, contending for his rights 
in a court of justice ?" Why, he (Mr. Clay) would admit that his condi- 
tion would be miserable enough ; but it was all they could do for him, and 
they were bound to do all they could, under the constitutional power they 
possessed, to maintain his rights. But, he would ask, what was to prevent 
these Indians, in their corporate, or collective character, from bringing their 
grievances before the courts ? Nothing. And, that they were competent 
to this, w T e had only to look at the state papers which had emanated from 
them, and which did them immortal credit, to be convinced. The senator 
from Tennessee asked, ' ; What the States would do ? Would they array 
the federal power against the power of the State governments, and thus 
produce that condition of things which must result in the Indians' being 
stricken from the face of the earth V Did not the honorable senator re- 
member the period when a State of this Union w r as actually arrayed and 
marshaled to defend its interpretation of the Constitution \ He was hearty 
in the support of the force bill ; he did not stop to look at the possible con- 
sequences of a civil war. He (Mr. Clay) gave it his reluctant and most 
painful support. He would gladly have turned the bitter cup from his 
lips, but he felt it to be his duty to sustain the authority of the general 
government ; and, after giving to the subject the most solemn and serious 
consideration, he felt himself constrained to sustain that measure. And he 
went along with the senator from Tennessee upon the principle, now de- 
nied by him, that the federal authority must maintain its dignity. He 
went upon the ground, now abandoned by the senator from Tennessee, that 
no State ought to array itself against the constitutional powers of this gov- 
ernment. 

How was the fact up to the period of 1829 ? The gentleman from 
Tennessee tells us the true policy of this government is to send those poor 
creatures beyond the Mississippi, and that there is no impediment in the 
obligations of subsisting treaties. Never, until the new light burst upon 
us, that hundreds of Indian treaties, made during a period of half a cen- 
tury, under almost every administration of the government, concluded and 
ratified with all the solemn forms of a Constitution, and containing the 
most explicit guaranties and obligations of protection to the Indians, and 
of security to their possessions, were mere nullities, was it supposed com- 
petent to effect a compulsory removal of the Indians beyond the Missis- 



ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEES. 655 

sippi. It is true, that the policy of removing them has long been enter- 
tained ; was contemplated by Mr. Jefferson ; but it was a free, voluntary, 
and unconstrained emigration. No one, until of late, ever dreamed of a 
forcible removal, against their consent, accomplished either by direcl appli- 
cation of military power, or by cruel and intolerable local legislation. He 
wished that they would voluntarily remove. He believed that absorption 
or extinction was the only alternative of their remaining in the bosom of 
the whites. But they were a part of the human race, as capable as we are 
of pleasure and pain, and invested with as indisputable a right as we have, 
to judge of and pursue their own happiness. 

It is said, that annihilation is the destiny of the Indian race. Perhaps 
it is, judging from the past. But shall we therefore hasten it.? Death is 
the irreversible decree pronounced against the human race. Shall we ac- 
celerate its approach, because it is inevitable ? No, sir. Let us treat with 
the utmost kindness, and the most perfect justice, the aborigines whom 
Providence has committed to our guardianship. Let us confer upon them, 
if we can, the inestimable blessings of Christianity and civilization, and 
then, if they must sink beneath the progressive wave of civilized popula- 
tion, we are free from all reproach, and stand acquitted in the sight of God 
and man. 

The. senator from Tennessee has left the Senate under the impression, no 
doubt unintentionally, that three other States had advanced as far as 
Georgia in the exercise of a jurisdiction over the Indians aud their prop- 
erty. But if he (Mr. Clay) were rightly informed, this was far from cor- 
rect. North Carolina had exercised no such jurisdiction. She had not 
touched a hair upon the head of any Indian. Tennessee had extended 
her laws to the Indian country, for the sole purpose of protecting the 
Indians, and punishing the white intruders. Her upright judges and tri- 
bunals concurred, unanimously, if he were rightly informed, in supporting 
the Iudian rights. No State, he believed, but Georgia, had seized upon 
the Indian lands, and distributed them among the whites. From the 
commencement of our independence down to this time, there was not 
another instance of such seizure, and appropriation, by any otlier member 
of the confederacy. 

Mr. Clay assured the senator from Georgia, that he had not sought for 
the position in which he was placed. It was sought of him. He was ap- 
plied to by the unfortunate Cherokees, to present their case to the Senate. 
And he should have been false and faithless to his heart, and unworthy of 
human nature, if he had declined to be their organ, however inadequate he 
feared he had proved himself to be. 

On the whole, then, said Mr. Clay, the resolutions proposed an inquiry 
into the suitableness of making further provision for the Cherokees who 
choose to emigrate beyond the Mississippi. And in regard to those of 
them who will not go, but who prefer to cling to the graves of their fore- 
fathers, and to the spot which gave them birth, in spite of any destiny iin- 



656 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

pending over them, the resolution proposes, that, since Georgia has shut 
her courts against them, we should inquire whether we should not open 
those of the federal government to them, and ascertain whether, according 
to the Constitution, treaties, and laws, we are capable of fulfilling the obli- 
gations which we have solemnly contracted. 



